Please see a statement below from Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt:
“Earlier this year, one of our County Legislators, Marcus Buchanan who represents District 1 in the City of Dunkirk, was charged with Election Law violations as a result of improper procedures employed in the registration of new voters and completion of absentee ballot applications occurring during the 2023 County Legislature election cycle. The charges were asserted in close consultation with me and my office, after a lengthy period of investigation which in part required a comprehensive review and understanding of comparatively complex and unfamiliar Election Law prescriptions, including relatively new state-wide Election Law procedures authorizing mail-in and/or early voting options, and the recent implementation of these newly-available options by voters and lay person candidates who are not necessarily sufficiently knowledgeable in the precise parameters of their permitted conduct when they engage in campaign and/or voter-related activities.
The charges filed against Mr. Buchanan were properly asserted under applicable governing law with no regard for political, racial and/or socioeconomic considerations, and were sufficiently supported by probable cause in accordance with law enforcement’s legal and ethical duties. Nevertheless, today I have taken steps to conclude the case with a certain disposition available under the law providing for a suspension of all prosecution activities and an adjournment of the case for a period of six months after which the charges will be dismissed and associated court record sealed, provided that Mr. Buchanan does not allegedly violate any misdemeanor or felony laws including criminal Election Law statutes within that timeframe, which I have no reason to believe will occur given that Mr. Buchanan is a respected sitting County Legislator, has no criminal history whatsoever, and has, by all accounts other than what I believe happened here, conducted himself throughout his lifetime within the parameters of the law.
Each and every criminal matter which comes through my office is evaluated by us to determine whether and to what extent we should proceed with our prosecution of charges, taking into consideration the nature and extent of a multitude of factors including, but not limited to, the criminal acts alleged, evidentiary strength of each required element of each crime charged, resulting harm caused to individuals and the community, and the charged person’s criminal history together with other relevant information about him which may be available to us through the investigation, our own knowledge of that person, and/or which may be provided to us on behalf of that person, all of which contributes to our determination, made in good faith, as to the appropriate course of action we should undertake to ensure a fair and just result under the particular facts and circumstances unique to that matter.
Several factors led me to my determination that suspension of the prosecution against Mr. Buchanan is the most appropriate and just result to seek, including: as I mentioned, the comparative complexity of, and public unfamiliarity with, Election Law prescriptions, as compared to other conduct-parameters defining criminal offenses under New York’s Penal and Vehicle and Traffic Laws which provide the legal authority underlying roughly 99.99% of all criminal charges typically asserted here in Chautauqua County; recognition that lay person candidates and voters acting under newly enacted laws may unknowingly engage in conduct which violates Election Law prohibitions and therefore do so, in whole or in part, without actually intending to act unlawfully; given Mr. Buchanan’s lack of any criminal history whatsoever, the potentially catastrophic financial and personal consequence a criminal conviction may have upon him and his ability to be gainfully employed and take care of his loved ones; the fact that, due to the length of time in which this matter was under investigation (for which I take full responsibility but which was necessitated in order to conduct a proper review of the established facts and the application of those facts to any potentially-implicated Election Law statutory prescriptions, while simultaneously attending to the homicide cases and other violent felony matters under investigation and prosecution which absolutely must take first priority over this and other non-violent matters), we unfortunately find ourselves now squarely in the middle of the 2025 political campaign cycle in which Mr. Buchanan and most if not all of his Legislator-colleagues are running for reelection this November; and, just as importantly, our County’s interests in my pursuing these charges given what I think is a reasonable likelihood that parts of our community which we serve may believe, regardless of their actual knowledge of the case, that political, racial and/or socioeconomic considerations contributed to the imposition and prosecution of these charges. This last concern is especially important to me given the increasingly divisive nature of the current political and social discontent surrounding us. In the approximate 20 year period in which I have worked within our local criminal justice system as both prosecutor and defense attorney, law enforcement has always acted with the highest integrity and without regard to those irrelevant considerations; it would be a disservice to our community if I were to pursue a course of action which created or contributed to that erroneous narrative.
Instead, I hope that what occurred here may serve as an opportunity for all of us to better understand our rights and responsibilities when we participate in our democratic process. As our local candidates for elected office now ramp up their campaign efforts in their final sprint to November’s election, all of us who participate in the election process, whether as voters or candidates, have a duty to educate ourselves on the recent changes to the Election Law which have expanded our voting opportunities so that we each do our part to ensure that votes are properly cast and recognized. Only in this way can we continue to maintain the integrity of our election system.”
