WNYT reports that two Democrats in Rensselaer County are wondering if they were the actual winners of their elections, after two guilty pleas and several investigations of election fraud there. Democrat Richard Mooney said “We’ll never know.... We believe there were things going on behind the scenes in the Republican party and we’ll just never know now.” Mooney officially lost by 43 votes in the 2021 election for Rensselaer mayor to Republican Mike Stammel. Since then, Troy Councilperson Kimberly Ashe-McPherson has pleaded guilty to election fraud, and former Rensselaer County Elections Commissioner Jason Schofield will plead guilty next week on similar charges. “I’m not surprised,” Mooney said. “My team and I, we saw things during the campaign that raised red flags, and unfortunately we ran out of time and money to pursue those.” Rensselaer Mayor Mike Stammel dismissed accusations of fraud in his election, saying, “Rich Mooney is acting childish. He should grow up. The election was fair and the allegations have no merit. He should stop acting like Hillary Clinton. If he wants to run again, he can.” But Lark Rutecki lost her election for county legislature by 49 votes and also suspects chicanery, saying, “I hoped to represent the voters of Rensselaer County and for the election to be called into question because of cheating is really unfortunate.... For folks whose vote was essentially coopted, I just find that reprehensible. By taking away someone’s voice and making a presumption of what’s good and what should be done is unacceptable.” Read more about this story at WNYT.