Diane Valden is reporting for The Columbia Paper voters in the Taconic Hills School District this week found their status as registered voters challenged after their request for an absentee ballot was denied by school officials. School staff argue that state Education Law and state Election Law are in conflict, thereby creating a situation in which voters legally registered to vote in national, state, county and local elections are suddenly not eligible to vote in their own school district, at least as far as Taconic Hills is concerned. In the case of one voter, she was told that to vote in the May 21 school board election and budget vote she first had to prove her status as a permanent resident of the district, and that the only acceptable proof of that status was her income tax form. The matter was brought to the attention of Ancram Town Supervisor Art Bassin and state Assemblymember Didi Barrett. Columbia County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Virginia Martin said she received a dozen complaints from Taconic Hills voters. Columbia County Democratic Committee Chairman Keith Kanaga, who was among those drawn into the fray by complaints from Democrats, said the committee has hired a New York City law firm which specializes in education law, to look into the matter. He said the committee wants to understand a number of issues connected with the school district election, such as the definitions of residency and permanent residency and the test for it. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.