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Petros Krommidas went missing last spring near the shore in Long Beach, New York.

Police found a towel among his belongings on the beach, but no sign of the 29-year-old Ivy League graduate who was running for local office in Nassau County as a Democrat.

His family believes he may have gone for a swim while training for a triathlon. More than five months later, and after a gruelling search by police and divers, Krommidas has not been found and is presumed dead.

Despite that, voters could still elect him as legislator for the county’s 4th District in next month’s election – with the encouragement of his family and local Democrats.

If Krommidas wins, it could trigger a special election.

The candidacy of a man who has been missing for months has sparked a heartbreaking and morbid debate in this section of Long Island.

“It is extremely painful for Petros’ family, it’s unfair to the voters and it’s making a political mockery of a young man’s passion to make the world a better place,” said Joe Scianablo, a Democrat running for Town of Hempstead supervisor and a friend of Krommidas, in an emailed statement today.

Initially, the local Democratic Party made efforts to remove Krommidas from the ballot, filing a motion in September to replace him with another candidate.

When two voters filed a lawsuit attempting to stop them, Democrats accused their rivals of trying to keep him there for political advantage.

“Nassau Republicans forcing our missing friend to stay on the ballot is frankly ghoulish,” Nassau County Young Democrats wrote in a Facebook post.

A local judge sided with the voters, saying that Krommidas must remain on the ballot because he has not been declared legally dead.

“A ‘missing person’ status does not qualify as a vacancy,” Judge Gary Knobel ruled, noting that a person must be missing for three years before they can be legally declared deceased.

Because Krommidas already had been selected as the party’s nominee, he was required by law to be the candidate.

The judge’s ruling prompted local Democrats to change tack.

“If the Republican Party won’t do the moral thing and remove him from the ballot, then we’ll win it for him,” Nassau County Young Democrats wrote in a social media post on Monday, as the local party mobilised to campaign for him.

In a statement shared with local media, the chairman of Nassau County Republican Committee, Joseph Cairo, noted that the local GOP did not file the lawsuit and said he was praying for the family.

“It is my sincere intention and desire that the Republican Party and its candidates will show the highest level of sensitivity during these challenging times for the Krommidas family,” Cairo said.

His family and local Democrats encourage people to vote for him, which could potentially trigger a special election. Photo / @MarioNawfal via X

The Nassau County Republican Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment today.

The judge’s ruling noted that a similar scenario had played out in 1972, when Democrat Nicholas Begich went missing in a light aircraft while he was running for election to the US House in Alaska.

Despite the fact that he could not be located, Begich was re-elected to Alaska’s sole seat in the US House weeks later. When he was declared dead in December, a special election was held and another candidate took office.

Krommidas’ family could not immediately be reached for comment but have encouraged voters to honour his legacy by electing him on November 4.

In a Facebook post last week, Krommidas’ sister Eleni-Lemonia Krommidas said there had been “confusion and emotion” surrounding her brother’s disappearance and the upcoming election.

“Regardless of what’s happening, his name remains on the ballot,” she wrote as she asked others to vote for Krommidas.

“His heart would have brought light and positive change to this community,” she said.

“That’s what I’m voting for – honouring the beautiful person he was and the values he lived and led by.”