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Criminal Justice

Former judge is accused of threatening to burn down polling site

By Debra Cassens Weiss

November 6, 2024, 11:23 am CST

A former New York judge who served time in prison was charged Tuesday with making a terroristic threat after he was only offered a provisional “affidavit ballot” at the polls.

Ex-Judge Paul M. Lamson, 69, of Gouverneur, New York, allegedly made “threatening remarks such as burning the place down and returning with a firearm,” according to a Nov. 5 press release from the New York State Police. The incident happened in Fowler, New York, where Lamson once served as a town justice.

The Times Union, North Country Public Radio, the Hudson Valley Post and WWNY are among the publications with coverage.

Lamson pleaded guilty in March 2017 to charges of receiving a bribe and official misconduct, according to a story by the Gouverneur Tribune Press. He had been accused of trading beneficial rulings for sexual favors. He was released on parole in February 2019, according to the Times Union.

Lamson couldn’t vote because he never re-registered after his felony bribery plea, state police said. A 2021 state law gives re-registered felons the right to vote after their release from prison.

Jennie H. Bacon, the St. Lawrence County Board of Elections commissioner, told the Times Union that Lamson claimed that he had registered to vote online. He was offered an affidavit ballot, but he rejected it. He went home to check his registration and “came back even more angry,” Bacon said.

“When we again offered an affidavit ballot, it didn’t help the situation,” she said.

When poll workers called the board of elections, Bacon allegedly heard Lamson threaten to burn the building.

Affidavit ballots can be counted if poll workers later find that a would-be voter is registered, Bacon told the Times Union.