Brendan J. Lyons is reporting for the Times Union State Police interviewed Rensselaer Mayor Michael E. Stammel at City Hall on December 14, and seized his mobile phone as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged absentee ballot fraud in the November election. Stammel initially declined to confirm that his phone was seized, but then added he was unsure why they would want to examine the device."I myself or nobody affiliated with me during the election process, that I am aware of, had anything to do with any wrongdoing with any absentee ballots or any voting intimidation or anything to with the election other than assisting those people who wanted to vote by absentee ballots with their approvals," Stammel said. Beau Duffy, a State Police spokesman, said the agency is "conducting interviews as we do with any investigation, one being the Rensselaer mayor. Items have been seized as a part of this investigation, however, we will not get into what particular items have been seized." Stammel, a Republican, won re-election when a judge recently certified his victory over Democratic challenger Richard J. Mooney. Mooney asked a court to throw out a significant number of absentee ballots, including some filed on behalf of voters who said they had not authorized anyone to file absentee ballots for them. Last month, a Rensselaer man told the Times Union that absentee ballots applied for on behalf of him and his wife were fraudulent because he has never voted in an election or applied to vote by absentee ballot. They said that someone had forged their signatures on the documents. The man also denied that he had ever met Rich Crist, whose name was listed on the absentee applications as the person authorized to pick up the ballots from the board of elections. Crist is the county's operations director and a longtime Republican operative and a confidant of county Executive Steve McLaughlin. A criminal complaint that sparked the State Police probe was filed by Todd Rutecki, a campaign volunteer for Mooney. Read more in the Times Union.