By Dan Higgins

Copyright buffalonews

The Chautauqua County district attorney has suspended the prosecution of a county legislator accused of violating state election laws and will drop the case if no other legal issues arise in the next six months.

District Attorney Jason Schmidt sent a long statement to news media on Monday about the case of Marcus Buchanan, who represents District 1 in the City of Dunkirk for the Chautauqua County Legislature.

Earlier this year, Schmidt wrote, Buchanan was charged with violations of state election laws related to Buchanan’s efforts to register new voters and help others complete absentee ballots during the 2023 election cycle. In 2023, Buchanan, a Democrat, defeated a Republican incumbent by a narrow margin that came down to absentee votes.

Schmidt noted that the investigation took longer than expected, in part because his office was busy with several high-profile prosecutions of violent felony cases.

Considering the complexities and newness of some aspects of state election law, and the public’s lack of familiarity of those complex details, Schmidt said that it would be easy for a candidate who is not a lawyer or career politician to accidentally run afoul of them. Buchanan was charged with illegal voting in July.

Because Buchanan has no criminal history and Schmidt believes he had no intention to violate the law, the D.A. said he would pause the prosecution. Furthermore, he noted that this is an election year, and that continuing to prosecute Buchanan might be wrongly perceived as a political move.

Schmidt said in his statement that 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.”

Under the terms of this suspension of prosecution, the case will be closed and the file will be sealed, if Buchanan gets in no further legal trouble in the next six months. Schmidt said he fully expects this to be the final outcome of the matter.