LoHud Reports: Congressional candidate Frank Morganthaler is fuming after the state Board of Elections placed his name on the Socialist party line of absentee ballots mailed to voters in the 17th Congressional District, which includes all of Rockland County and some central and northern Westchester communities.
Morganthaler, a Vietnam veteran who said he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, wants to “set the record straight… I am not a socialist, I’m an American,” Morganthaler told The Journal News Wednesday. “I fought for my country. To brand me as a socialist is about the lowest thing you could do. It’s the worst insult imaginable.”
The registered Republican is running on the “We The People” line against Republican candidate Joe Carvin and incumbent Democratic Rep. Nita Lowey in the November general election.
In a statement Wednesday, Morganthaler accused the state Board of Elections of trying to sabotage his campaign by defaming him — a move he called “underhanded” and “deliberate.”
But Todd Valentine, co-executive director of the state elections board, said the placement of Morganthaler’s name on the ballot is coincidental.
Under state law, in a presidential election year, an independent candidate has to take the first available ballot spot after the established party lines — which in this case happened to put Morganthaler on the Party for Socialism and Liberation line.
Valentine said the board is reviewing a formal complaint Morganthaler filed Wednesday
