Brooklyn Democrats surprised to find their names on candidate list without their knowledge or consent

There have been at least 20 of these cases come to light lately the 46th Assembly District and included people living in southern Brooklyn and even parts of Staten Island.

According to The City, the would-be candidates were named for the Democratic County Committee, "a body of roughly 4,000 unpaid, entry-level party officials across the borough who pick nominees for special elections and vote on party rules."

Among the people named were "the executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, a 24-year-old financial tech worker," as well as "92-year-old Holocaust survivor Savely Kaplinskiy," who "has been in and out of the hospital" after having recently "underwent brain surgery."

Considering that these people have almost no likelihood of filling such a position, suspicion exists that local party bosses "can use them to pad their proxy votes at the organizing meetings so that they can change the rules, they can appoint officers, and they can pretty much do what they want," according to Julio Pena III, a district leader in Brooklyn's Sunset Park area.

Depending on the scope of intent behind this, it's possible that adding names to the list in this fashion could even be construed as fraud, and an illegal act.