ALBANY - Spikes in absentee ballot applications in several city wards during this year’s primary election has some campaigns concerned that voters are being misled on valid reasons for absentee ballot voting.

Two weeks before the Nov. 7 general election, concerns about absentee ballot applications have become a point of contention in the s 11th Ward race, where incumbent Common Councilman Judd Krasher is running on the Independence Party line after losing the Democratic primary to challenger Alfredo Balarin.

Albany attorney and former City Court Judge Thomas Keefe, who has been working on Balarin’s campaign, said in the primary and now for the general election, he’s seen candidates and their supporters target people who don’t typically vote to encourage them to vote absentee – without necessarily having a valid reason to do so.

“They’ve gone to them and gotten dozens and dozens of people to sign absentee ballot applications saying they’re sick on primary day or saying they’re going to be out of town,” Keefe said. “They say they never said they were going to be out of town."

Valid reasons include not being in the county on election day, being temporarily or permanently sick or disabled, caring for sick or disabled relatives or being incarcerated for a crime that isn't a felony.

Krasher was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

In the 11th Ward, applications nearly doubled, from 63 in 2008 to 121 in this year’s primary. For the upcoming general election, the number has now risen to 204 with about 140 of them set to be picked up by people designated by the applicants, according to county Board of Elections figures.

Keefe said he and several other volunteers have spoken to roughly 60 people who applied for absentee ballots, recounting their experience with campaign workers who told them it was an easier way to vote. Keefe also said some voters said they were unaware of what they were signing or the names of the people who were to pick up the ballot for them weren’t on the application when they signed.

While Keefe suggested Krasher and his campaign workers are attempting to manipulate the system and have voters apply by absentee ballot unbeknownst to them, Republican elections Commissioner Rachel Bledi suggested Keefe and others are the ones intimidating voters.

“Voters are now being harassed and the information is being used in a fishing expedition to fit an unproven narrative,” Bledi said. “It is my job to prevent voter intimidation and harassment to the extent possible.”

Keefe asserted the people listed to pick up absentee ballots for voters are either Krasher or his supporters.

"If the votes are submitted and counted, then the fraud has accomplished its goal,” he said. “We want to stop the fraud.”

State Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin said the absentee ballot process is considered more susceptible to fraud than other voting methods.

“I think the part of the absentee process to allow someone else to pick up the ballot is clearly for the convenience of the voter, but also may be one of the elements of the process that makes it more vulnerable to potential fraud than the others," Conklin said.

Bledi said applying for an absentee ballot is a judgment call for each voter.

“I attribute a large number of absentees to a greater amount of voter contacts,” she said.

At least half of the 15 Albany wards saw increases in absentee ballot applications in this year’s primary compared to the 2008 and 2013 primaries, with some wards seeing double or quadruple the number from previous years, based on a Times Union analysis of absentee ballot figures.

In the 10th Ward – where incumbent Councilwoman Leah Golby lost to challenger Owusu Anane – the applications increased from 34 in 2008 to 124 this year.

In the 5th Ward, Jahmel Robinson, incumbent Councilman Mark Robinson’s nephew, beat Malcolm Thorpe in the Democratic primary, thanks to absentee ballot votes. The number increased from 33 in 2008 to 167 this year, accounting for 20 percent of the total.

County Democratic elections Commissioner Matthew Clyne did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The latest concerns in the 11th Ward come amid the county Board of Elections denying Keefe’s request for copies of the most recent absentee ballot applications – which were provided to the public before the Sept. 12 primary.

The Times Union requested copies for various city ward races as well as minor-party primaries in the Colonie town clerk race on Sept. 22. On Tuesday, the board denied the request, citing an “unwarranted invasion of privacy.”

Bledi said that a list of names of those who have applied for absentee ballots will still be made available, but the applications will not because copies of signatures and reasons for applying have been deemed an invasion of privacy by the county board.

Bob Freeman, executive director of the state’s Committee on Open Government, pointed to state Election Law Section 8-402 Subdivision 7, which requires the the Board of Elections to keep a record of applications for absentee ballots and make them available for inspection to any qualified voter upon request. He added that unless an application has details as to where a voter will be going on vacation, or the details of an illness, it should be made public.

Last month, county Legislator Alison McLean Lane filed a lawsuit against the county Board of Election as well as her opponent – Republican Julie Gansle – in the Colonie town clerk race, alleging a “systematic effort” to have voters cast absentee ballots when they didn’t have a legitimate reason to do so. Lane pointed to an unusually large number of absentee ballots in the Independence Party primary for the town race.

The lawsuit was dismissed because it wasn’t served on the Board of Elections in a timely fashion.