“I actually don’t know whether Mamdani won the mayoral race, and I’m not here to say that he didn’t,” Hornik said.
“The problem we uncovered is that the New York City and the New York State Boards of Elections have no idea if Mamdani won the mayoral election either. And that’s where the rubber meets the road here.”
According to Hornik, her organization reviewed approximately one million of the roughly 2.2 million ballots cast in the election. She said that analysis revealed multiple categories of questionable voter records that, if confirmed, would exceed the margin separating Mamdani from his closest challenger.
Hornik claimed that roughly 7 percent of the voters her organization examined could not be located in available records, another 6 percent allegedly had invalid Social Security numbers, and approximately 10 percent were listed at addresses outside New York City.
Based on those findings, she estimated that approximately 230,000 votes could be considered illegal or otherwise ineligible under the criteria used by her organization. That figure is larger than Mamdani’s reported 207,000-vote margin of victory over former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who entered the race as an independent candidate.
Hornik emphasized that her audit is still incomplete, noting that roughly 1.2 million voter records remain to be examined.
“So out of 2.2 million voters, we studied about a million of them, and we found more votes that are apparently illegal than his margin of victory,” she told host Sid Rosenberg.
“Again, the issue is not whether or not Mamdani won. The issue is whether or not the boards of elections in New York are actually counting fair elections so that we are properly represented as we are constitutionally granted.”
During another appearance on WABC on July 19, Hornik expanded on her concerns, arguing that the statistics uncovered by her organization could point to significant failures within both the New York City and New York State Boards of Elections.
“These statistics that we discovered … they implicate both in New York City and the New York State boards of elections in potential very serious misconduct, because we could not find 7 percent of the voters,” she said.
“They don’t exist.”
Hornik went on to describe what she said her investigators encountered while attempting to verify voter information.
“We were unable to verify any of their critical information as provided by the, by the boards of elections — their name, their date of birth, their voting address. They don’t exist. They’re fake people,” she added.
The activist also revealed that her organization has already delivered its findings to federal authorities for review. She argued that if election records contain widespread inaccuracies, the matter could have serious legal implications because it directly affects Americans’ constitutional right to elect their representatives.
“This is in the hands of federal investigators and prosecutors right now, because again, when our right to choose representatives is diluted or harmed, injured in any way, that is a serious crime in America,” she said.
“It’s not a minor thing, especially when you’re talking about 7 percent of the vote.”
Hornik’s allegations have also attracted attention from author and journalist Naomi Wolf, who has increasingly focused on election-related issues in recent years. Wolf, who previously served as a political adviser to former President Bill Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore, referenced Hornik’s investigation while discussing the controversy on social media.
Wolf also pointed back to an earlier allegation she made in June, claiming she had identified more than 100,000 blank ballots displayed on the New York City Board of Elections website that she believed were improperly included in election totals.
At this stage, Hornik’s findings represent allegations made by her organization. Public officials have not announced any determination validating the claims, and no court has ruled that the 2025 mayoral election was invalid. Nevertheless, the accusations are likely to intensify scrutiny of New York’s election procedures as federal authorities review the information Hornik says has already been submitted.
