HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – A New York school board election took an interesting last minute turn when two black candidates invoked Adolf Hitler while criticizing their Latino opponents.

Incumbent Hempstead school board member Shelley Brazley and allied candidate David Gates have published a series of promotional pieces using the images and quotes of influential figures, including Harriet Tubman, Malcolm X, Muhammed Ali and Elie Wiesel.

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But a flyer published just days before Tuesday’s election drew the most ire.

It featured an image of Hitler along with the quote, “I shall give a propagandist reason for starting the war – never mind whether it is plausible or not.

“The victor will not be asked afterward whether he told the truth or not. In starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but victory.”

The message ended, “STOP the Democratic Machine! We’ve Given Them The Village. Don’t Give Them the School District!”

Contacted after the flyer began circulating around the community, Brazley was puzzled why what the kerfuffle was all about.

“I don’t understand why people would be offended,” Brazley tells News 12.

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“Maybe they didn’t understand the intent. The intent, like I’ve said several times, was the correlation between what he said, when he said it. People are sleeping and we really need to wake up.”

“What I did was simply liken the condition of my community, people in their frame of mind, to that of that time period and that leader and what was able to happen to those people as a result of not paying attention,” she adds to Newsday columnist Michael Dobie.

Brazley’s ally, David Gates, claimed to know nothing about the flyer and wouldn’t say what he thought of it.

Wednesday, the district descended into chaos.

The school board met to certify the election results, which had Brazley losing re-election.

Moments later, the board decertified those same results, according to Newsday.

They also passed motions “to ask the state education commissioner to call for a revote,” and “to authorize lawyers for the district to sue any parties involved in alleged election-related fraud.”

That allegation apparently stems from an accusation that Brazley’s Latino opponents brought translators to the polls.

Translators are allowed by state law, so long as they do not influence a voter’s decision.

Incumbent Maribel Toure’s citizenship had been questioned during the campaign and she was forced to provide documentation proving she was a U.S. citizen.