Voting for New York City’s parent education councils has devolved into chaos — with persistent technical issues, ballot errors and apparent violations of campaign rules, The Post has learned.
Parents in District 1, which covers the Lower East Side and East Village, received notice Friday that a candidate was missing from the ballot.
“We have cleared the votes of all those that voted prior to the corrected ballot and are asking you to vote again by entering your NYC Schools Account,” an email from the CEC elections team read.
The parent, Rodney Lee, a social worker who served on the advisory council in 2021, was also previously left off the list for the district’s candidate forum.
“They’re disenfranchising the families of District 1,” Noah Harlan, the council’s president, told The Post.
It comes after voting began last Friday and opened to the system being taken down for “maintenance” shortly after amid reports of issues.
Those who voted before it was paused received calls this week saying they would also have to re-vote before May 13.
Harlan blasted the city Department of Education’s Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE), which administers elections.
“FACE has a history of staggering incompetence,” Harlan said. “Once again, they have truly dropped the ball.”
FACE, which is reportedly riddled with dysfunction, spends upwards of $5 million on the biennial elections, sources say, yet only about 2% of public school families voted in recent years.
Harlan and other parents are calling for an audit of the election.
The group Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum and Education (PLACE NYC), demanded an investigation into the “cause and scope of the ballot errors” on the first day of voting.
“The integrity of parent representation is at stake,” PLACE co-president Yiatin Chu said in a statement.
Meanwhile, FACE emailed candidates Thursday about complaints of flyers disparaging candidates that were hung near schools, including District 2, where far-left trans rights activists are trying to unseat conservative opponents.
“These actions represent a serious erosion of the fairness and integrity of the election process,” the email read.
The DOE did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
