TOWN OF NEWBURGH – Questions have been raised about the relationships among Orange County Legislator Stephen Hunter, a local voter-information website, and a technology company that markets services to political campaigns.
supporters have placed street signs and distributed palm cards featuring QR codes that provide election and voter information. The site asks users for a street address to provide election information and collects email addresses from people requesting election reminders.
“I have seen these signs all over the Town of Newburgh,” said Joan Birdsall, a longtime town resident and member of the Town of Newburgh Republican Committee. “I had no idea they are collecting voters’ information, and I don’t want these signs all over the town unless they are going to reveal what they are really doing.”
Newburgh Votes is listed as a program of Every Ballot Counts Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit formed in March 2026. The organization’s IRS-listed address is in the Town of Newburgh at a residential property owned by Hunter and Joshua Dean Huckabee. Hunter, a Democrat who represents the Town of Newburgh, is also listed as a co-founder of Kwill.io LLC, a company formed in January 2026 that creates websites and social media content. Kwill markets its services to political campaigns and businesses. Kwill’s website has listed Newburgh Votes as a client.
It also previously listed a campaign website for Stephen Krasner, a candidate for Newburgh Town Supervisor. That listing has since been removed. Huckabee did not respond to questions about why the listing was removed or whether the Krasner campaign paid Kwill. Hunter said he has no ownership interest or formal role with Every Ballot or Newburgh Votes and is not involved in their operations.
“I don’t run NewburghVotes.org. I didn’t build the site, and I don’t manage it,” Hunter said. “It’s a voter education website, a program of Every Ballot, Inc., a nonpartisan nonprofit.”
Hunter said Huckabee, his business partner, is president of Every Ballot and that Kwill is a single-member company owned by Huckabee. Huckabee said Hunter is not involved with Every Ballot, Newburgh Votes or Kwill.
“I started Newburgh Votes because too few people in Newburgh vote,” Huckabee said. “I’ve paid for most of it out of my own pocket, nobody is paid, and its sole purpose is getting more people to the polls.”
Federal law prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from participating in political campaigns but permits certain nonpartisan voter-registration and voter-education activities. Newburgh Votes says it does not endorse candidates or political parties. The organization’s materials have appeared at the Town of Newburgh Democratic Party headquarters, and the local Democratic Party’s Facebook page has shared Newburgh Votes posts.
Residents also have reported receiving Newburgh Votes materials along with campaign literature from Democratic candidates. Huckabee said Every Ballot has no formal relationship with the Town of Newburgh Democratic Committee and does not exchange money with the committee. He said he personally is a Democrat, serves on the committee’s communications subcommittee, and that Kwill hosts the committee’s website for free.
“My personal politics are mine,” Huckabee said. “Every Ballot’s work is nonpartisan, and the site proves it,”
Huckabee said Newburgh Votes signs and palm cards contain only voting dates and deadlines and are distributed to anyone who requests them. He said the organization does not provide materials to campaigns or political parties. Huckabee also said every candidate on the ballot receives the same treatment on the website. Several Town of Newburgh Republican candidates told Mid-Hudson News they had not been contacted by Newburgh Votes, Hunter or Huckabee and had not received materials for the website. Members of the Town Republican Committee also said they had not been offered materials by the organization.
Hunter’s social media accounts include posts from the Town of Newburgh Democratic Committee and Newburgh Votes, as well as posts criticizing Republican candidates. Hunter said he has introduced people to Newburgh Votes but has no role in its operation. Questions about a potential conflict of interest also involve Hunter’s business relationship with Huckabee, the use of Hunter’s property as the nonprofit’s listed address, Hunter’s connection to Kwill and Kwill’s previous listing of the Krasner campaign. Hunter said he files the financial disclosure required of county legislators and will include everything required in his 2027 filing.
He also said he has disclosed his service on the Orange County Land Trust to the County Board of Ethics and abstains from County Legislature votes involving the organization. Hunter said Kwill, Every Ballot and Newburgh Votes have no contracts with Orange County government or any county entity. The relationships described do not, by themselves, establish a violation of federal, state, election, nonprofit, or county ethics laws. There also is no evidence that Newburgh Votes or Every Ballot has sold, shared or transferred voter information to a political party, campaign, candidate or Kwill client. Hunter’s connection to the initiative comes as he has criticized Flock license plate reader cameras in the Town of Newburgh over concerns about the collection and sharing of vehicle data. Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader cameras have become the subject of a national debate over privacy, surveillance, and law enforcement access to vehicle data.
Hunter said the situations are different because Newburgh Votes is a voluntary voter-information website.
“My concern with Flock is a network of cameras that records every car that passes, without consent or suspicion,” Hunter said. “Newburgh Votes is a voter education website people visit by choice.”
Hunter said Newburgh Votes’ privacy policy describes the information it collects and that the organization has never sold or shared it.
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