With Republicans Stephen Bedetti and Colin Schmitt both circulating petitions to run for New Windsor Town Supervisor, some New Windsor residents reported being visited by an investigator claiming to verify signatures for Bedetti.

Not so fast, says the Orange County Board of Elections.

“The Orange County Board of Elections received reports of individuals who are visiting the residences of voters in the Town of New Windsor, questioning the signing of Republican Designating petitions. These individuals identified themselves as representing the Board of Elections. Please be advised this is false information, and the individuals are misrepresenting the Board,” said Justin Rodriguez, Assistant to the County Executive for Communications and Media Relations. “The Board of Elections did not send anyone to question voters and would not do so. The matter is under investigation. Please call the office if you have any questions (845) 360-6500.”

According to the Orange County Board of Elections records, two petitions from Schmitt were filed with the county on April 4 and 10. The petition filed on the 4th contained 13 signatures and was accepted on April 10 that morning. On the same day, the 10th, a petition was filed with 249 signatures from Schmitt. Bedetti’s filed petition also contained 249 total signatures on it and the petition was submitted on the afternoon of April 3 to the county.

“I’ve been getting several calls, texts and videos over the last day from New Windsor residents who are being questioned at their homes by people posing as “investigators” and “New Windsor Board of Elections” about their signing my and my Republican teams petitions last month,” said Bedetti in a Facebook post. “Obviously, New Windsor does not have a Board of Elections. These are NOT Orange County Board of Election employees or any type of people working in any official capacity. They are a firm hired by someone to question anyone supporting me and my running mates. If these people come to your door, you DO NOT have to verify anything with them. You are not required to speak with them or answer any of their questions in any way shape or form. You can simply ask them to leave. If you have any questions, concerns or issues please message, call or text me anytime.”

Schmitt did not respond to a request for comment on the investigation.

John Ciampoli of the firm Perillo Hill LLP confirmed that he was hired to conduct the investigation but declined to reveal the identity of his client. Ciampoli stated that he was not working for Schmitt and that he was not able to disclose the identity of his client that initiated the investigation.

“My firm was hired to investigate a petition. We hired a reputable private investigation firm [Pagones O’Neill Investigations]. They sent investigators out. The investigators, I don’t know if they were briefed on who they were representing or not. I’ve reviewed some video and audio tapes of interviews that they conducted. And I see no intimidation in the first instance.”

Town Supervisor George Meyers, who is not seeking re-election, also weighed in on the matter.

“I’m not happy with people knocking on my residents’ doors with this kind of nonsense. People get alarmed,” said Meyers. “When you start misrepresenting yourself, and you’re talking about your signature not being correct, and on and on, and it’s just to me, it’s over the top. Typical Colin Schmitt nonsense and then he denies that he’s involved, so who else would be doing it?”