Turning to the merits of the appeal, I find that petitioners have not overcome the presumption of regularity in the conduct of the election. Upon the record before me I find that petitioners have failed to meet their burden of proof. Petitioners claim that voters were allowed to vote when their buff signature cards were not in the signature card book. However, voters who did not previously vote in a school district election, but are registered voters in Suffolk County, are logged in the county register books. Therefore, this allegation is not indicative of any irregularity in the conduct of the election.
Petitioners claim to have uncovered irregularities in the election results at four polling places.
If extrapolated over the remaining 12 sites the discrepancy could be as high as 712. Respondents acknowledge that there is a discrepancy between the number of buff cards on file at three of those polling places and the total number of votes cast at those sites. However, after service of this petition, the District Clerk retabulated the buff cards on file for those polling places and found the discrepancies to be minimal. The total discrepancy in votes and buff cards is 21. Respondents admit that in some cases, persons were allowed to vote in an election district which was not their home district.