From the Daily News:
City Council hopefuls Paul Vallone and Austin Shafran are separated by just 144 votes in a Democratic Primary race that is still too close to call.
The two are leading a five-candidate battle for a shot at the northeastern Queens seat currently held by disgraced Republican City Councilman Dan Halloran.
Vallone, the son of former speaker Peter Vallone and the brother of City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., claimed victory Tuesday night when unofficial tallies showed he had 2,723 votes. But Shafran, with 2,579 votes, refused to concede until the voting machines are checked and paper ballots counted, a process that begins on Monday.
“Protecting voting rights is the foundation of our democracy so we will use every legal option possible to ensure every vote is fully and fairly counted,” he said Wednesday.
55 comments:
Everyone should hope and pray to God that Shafran prevails so we can collectively wipe that hideous smirk off Paul Vallone's face. Paul Vallone has run a vile, nasty campaign and should be brought down hard and fast. If Shafran does not ultimately win everyone should come out and vocally support Dennis Saffran, a moderate, commen -sense Republican who is committed to preserving our beautiful neighborhoods. Saffran will not sell out to real estate developers like Vallone has. Vallone is the lawyer for Carl Mattone in Douglaston who is seeking to construct a mega dock despite community opposition. This is only the beginning of bathe end if Vallone is elected. We mus. t stop him at all costs! get the word out NOW
Anyone but Stinky.
Good for Austin! I hope he wins.
This type of pathetic legal maneuvering is what he democrats are good at; should be interesting. Maybe Halloran will be hanging around for a while.
Good for Shafran! Don't let go!!!
Who declared Vallone winner?? himself. typical balloney.
If Shafran doesn't make it there is not a day cold enough in hell to make me vote vallone, I would rather switch to the communist party.
"We look forward to all Democrats uniting behind Paul Vallone so that together we can reclaim this seat in November and give northeast Queens the effective leadership it deserves in the City Council," said Vallone spokesman Austin Finan.
Keep dreaming. Anyone but Stinky.
Next time I attend one of my "damn" Broadway Flushing (BFHA) meetings, will "Don-ette" Paulo be there?
Or will it be Austin glad-handing everyone?
If Vallone should wind up winning after the final tally, I will definitely be voting Republican in November.
ANYONE BUT VALLONE!
I don't want an arrogant cheese head representing me.
Let's be thankful that his self loving brother lost to Katz--GROAN!
I never though I'd be grateful for Katz--but I kept my word. I DID NOT vote for ANYBODY for borough president.
AUSTIN FINAN AND PAUL VALLONE---We have news for you! The Graziano and Chrissy Democrats will not support the most despicable candidate in Coucil District 19's history. From smearing your fellow candidates, to attemptig to use the tragedy in CT as a statement that you will keep our neighborhood safe (HA!)(You'll run it into the ground!)---you are a corrupt, vile individual. You are in bed with real estate developers and will destroy our neighborhood. You will not be our next City Councilman!We will continue to expose you.
The Graziano and Chrissy Democrats will not support the most despicable candidate in Coucil District 19's history.
I think you can safely include the John Duane and Austin Shafran Democrats, too. If Paulie Grapenuts somehow holds on to this temporary lead and winds up as the Democratic nominee, he will be isolated and shunned - it will be Kevin Kim Redux, and we'll all be voting for Dennis Saffran.
What happened? I thought that on Sept. 10, you were all going to VOTE GRAZIANO.
Well, there'll be more races to run.
FYI, an analysis of the outside spending in the District 19 primary.
I believe in unison and working together but Finian is CRAZY if he thinks the democrats are going to rally behind Vallone after all those unspeakable flyers sent, the lies he told at the debates and the way he conned idiots into voting for him by throwing out big words like respect and unity. Ha he may have fooled the 30 percent of stupid dems but the rest can read and think for themselves. So you should try to find another day job.
The saddest thing about all of this is that 2700 votes can win a primary.
The saddest thing about all of this is that 2700 votes can win a primary.
I guess NYC wouldn't be able to afford it if there was a run-off for every contest where the top candidate didn't receive 40% of votes cast. Too bad.
The whole vote should be re-done. Who knows how many of those voting machines were tampered with. "tossed or lost paper work"
GRAZIANO lost all his creditability in that fiasco with Avella who took peoples money then "quit" taking 2 weeks to come up with some BS speech.
DEMOCRATS ARE ALL NO GOOD WISEGUYS WITH HANDS IN EACH OTHER LAPS!!!
Queens voters will never learn and its only going to get worse.
What was once Queens R.I.P will soon be the new Los Angeles.
I guess NYC wouldn't be able to afford it if there was a run-off for every contest where the top candidate didn't receive 40% of votes cast. Too bad.
I wasn't saying there should be a run off. My point was the low level of interest. How many people live within the district that could have voted? Only 8,000 or so did.
Sad isn't it?
My point was the low level of interest.
Maybe electronic voting would result in a larger number of people voting, but there would be numerous opportunities for fraud. If everyone received a letter with a unique log-in to use for voting online, what would prevent one person in the household from opening up the letters for his/her spouse, adult child, elderly parent, etc., and fraudulently casting ballots for them. On the other hand, there has to be a better way than the current one.
It's terrible that the "40 percent rule," if you will, doesn't apply to City Council races. Nobody who gets 25-35 percent of the vote should win anything. And if it's too expensive to do all these separate runoffs, then let the City Council races be decided by an instant runoff system.
I guess we now understand why Vallone took so much outside money and attacked all his other opponents. He knew how badly he would have lost if he hadn't.
At least Broadway-Auburndale will be spared over development because Vallone lives there and won't shit in his own backyard. The low density R1-2A zoning won't allow it either.
Notice that the Vallones don't crap in the good part of Astoria that they live in. The zoning is decent there too.
As for the rest of the 19th district...be afraid...be very afraid! College Point, in particular, is totally up for grabs by developers. They've had their eye on that prize for decades. The zoning there sucks big time!
With Vallone's partner, Chuck Apelian firmly seated on CB7...parts of Whitestone can expect to be dumped on too.
If Vallone triumphs over Shafran, it will be extremely difficult to unseat him as an incumbent...if not impossible.
Look forward to 8 years of a pro real estate city council member. Will your voice be heard over Don Paulo's developer pals? Very unlikely!
If Vallone finally emerges as the victor in this primary, I'm voting Republican. What other choice have I?
I'll even consider re-registering as a Republican afterwards.
ANYONE BUT VALLONE!
You can't bargain with this Devil Democrat.
Win; place; show:
In this horse race Graziano showed very well.
BRAVO, P.G. !!!
Real change often comes slow, but if it's the will of the people, IT WILL come!
If Vallone ultimately wins the primary over Shafran---Vallone is not the incumbent! He faces a very tough race against Dennis Saffran--who will expose his shallowness/failure to take a stand on any issues, his nasty campaign tactics, his toes with real estate developers, and who will seek the support of Graziano, Chrissy and all other commen-sense Democrats! This race is far from over! Remember--Saffran lost to Avella by less than 1% of the vote in 2001! Anyone but Vallone!
Questions for Austin Finian: Why should any democrat unite behind Paul after they way Paul Vallone treated the other democratic candidates?? Remember, only 1/3 of the voters voted for Paul Vallone. 66% of the voters did not vote for stinky.
Keep saying this mantra-attack ads never work-and close is only good in horseshoes.
What's going on with this? Is there a timeframe? Has the recount begun?
The recanvassing of the machines happened today, and Austin Shafran gained 8 votes, bringing him to 136 behind Paul Vallone.
On Monday, the Board of Elections will start counting the provisional emergency ballots which were cast instead of voting on the broken machines. From what I hear, there are more than 500 of them.
After that, the BoE will open up all of the absentee ballots - estimated to be over 530 of them - followed by the affidavit ballots, which can be more easily challenged by the BoE as to their validity.
All in all, this primary race is definitely not over by a long shot.
There are 421 valid absentees and 476 valid affidavits. The affidavit ballots have already been counted. At least 20 percent of all of the affidavits and absentees ballots will have no votes cast for Council so there will be around 675 votes cast for Council. Paper always follows the machine and there is no particular spike in either the affidavits or the absentees relative to overall turnout. There are four people in the race, and GRAZIANO and Chrissy will get their share of the votes., especially GRAZIANO. Vallone is ahead 136. The election results will not change, Vallone won.
The broken machine which registered 0 votes for Austin in a precinct where most people voted for him still needs to be assessed. A lot of the affadavit ballots will break for Shafran. And he did an aggressive get out the vote absentee drive, where the other candidates didn't. This is going to be very interesting.
I like the analysis of the commenter 2 anonymouses above - someone who doesn't know what the actual count is. The affadavit ballots could very easily have come out heavily for Shafran, and if he did do a very aggressive mail-in campaign, he may have pulled even, if not eclipsed Vallone.
On top of that, there were many irregularities in the machines that still need to be scrutinized by BOE.
I suppose we will see!
The affidavit ballots have already been counted. At least 20 percent of all of the affidavits and absentees ballots will have no votes cast for Council so there will be around 675 votes cast for Council. Paper always follows the machine and there is no particular spike in either the affidavits or the absentees relative to overall turnout.
Come back when you have some actual numbers and not just speculation.
ANYONE BUT VALLONE Everyone should talk to their neighbors and remind them of Vallone's malicious attacks on his opponents! We do not want him for our City Councilman!
There are also 400+ emergency ballots. Tee hee.
1) the emergency ballots have been counted already.
2) there are no issues regarding machines. the machine count is over. the machines and emergency ballots (and yes there were about 400 of them) were counted. Vallone is up 136.
3) there are 800 or so affidavits and absentees. that is it.
3) there is no reason to think the affidavits will break for anyone. those will be mostly people who came out to vote only for mayor and weren't in the books because they just moved to the district or they will be people with language issues. many of these will not have voted for council.
First you said the absentee ballots were already counted and then you said the emergency ballots were what was counted. Which is it? Can't be both, pal.
There are 3 types of ballots: emergency (when the machine breaks), absentee (mail-in) and affadavit (when you go to vote and your name is missing from the voter rolls.)
Sorry Adam, the machine recanvass was done, and Vallone lost 6 votes. NONE of the paper ballots from any of the 3 categories were counted yet. That process doesn't start until Monday. Have a nice weekend.
It's so funny that we can tell which comments are left by Adam Lombardi. A know-nothing hack who pretends he is a political genius that doesn't know the difference between emergency, affadavit and mail-in votes.
There are three types of ballots: emergency (provisional), absentee and affidavit.
Clearly, the dwarf has *no idea* what he's talking about.
The emergency (provisional) ballots are directly connected to the broken and miscounted machines. They will NOT be counted until Monday. There are HUNDREDS of ballots - regular votes on paper, which is what emergency ballots are - that have not been counted.
Absentee ballots will be counted next. There are, according to the BoE, over 500 of these ballots. They will not necessarily break in any one direction. I spoke to Paul Graziano and he told me that there were virtually no absentees from his campaign. I also spoke to Austin, and he told me that he went on an aggressive absentee ballot drive, so we'll see how many of them go for him vs. Vallone.
Finally, affidavit ballots are for those people who aren't listed on the voter rolls or are having some other issue that has nothing to do with the regular votes. These are the ones that are most challengeable, and tend to go to court to be resolved. However, they don't matter as much if the vote count from the other two areas are already significantly resolved in one direction or another.
That's it, folks. Lombardi, as usual, continues to spread misinformation in order to pretend that he knows what he's talking about.
- Whitestone Resident
Vallone trolls will not change the actual results once all of the emergency ballots; absentee ballots (which will likely bring more votes for Shafran than others---given his push to get his supporters to file absentee ballots if the could not vote on election day); and paper affidavit ballots---none of which have been counted according to the BOE. Moreover, I understand there were some machine irregularities. Vallone has not won, and GOD help us---hopefully he will not. In the unlikely event he prevails--VOTE DENNIS SAFFRAN!!!!
For everyone saying Vallone will lose on absentees, I believe you are mistaken.
The general demographic of people who fill out absentee ballots are seniors, some of which live in nursing homes, places where every candidate makes their rounds. I saw PV put up a half dozen pictures of him visiting senior centers with his Pops, Toby and other elected the week permanent ballots when out. Walking around with one of the most beloved NYC politicians in Peter Sr. has to be good for a couple dozen votes there.
Overall, Vallone likely did well with the senior population (55+), which is why I have the bad feeling that he will prob pick up 30-40% of the absentees, giving him an even bigger lead.
I guess we'll all find out on Monday afternoon.
Does anyone actually know where the most permanent absentees are casted in CD19?
the Board of Elections has released a list of where all the absentees and affidavids are. The numbers fit the pattern of voter turnout throughout the district. Nothing unique. The emergency ballots were counted and Vallone picked up 4 votes. Basically the emergency ballots mirrored pretty precisely the overall results. As will the affidavits. No reason to think they won't. Out of the 400 or so absentees, a bunch won't have voted for Council. And its a 4 way race.
The board of elections has not released a list or done counting of paper ballots yet. If Vallone is now ahead by 136 votes, then he didn't pick up 4 votes. And its a 5 way race, not a 4 way race. You can't even keep track of your lies.
Intelligence from the Board Of Elections has Vallone only being ahead by a mere 120 votes. With the absentee and paper ballots, Shafran can definitely pull this off. Vallone trolls would hae you believe otherwise. Vallone will not prevail!!!!!! Anyone but Vallone!!!!!!!!!!
Queens Crapper said...
The board of elections has not released a list or done counting of paper ballots yet. If Vallone is now ahead by 136 votes, then he didn't pick up 4 votes. And its a 5 way race, not a 4 way race. You can't even keep track of your lies.
Seriously, Crappy. It's like the Dwarf has Alzheimer's or something. Seems to be something that affects all Vallone supporters, including the elected officials that have been standing with him, such as Braunstein and Meng.
I heard from a friend of mine at the Jefferson Democratic Club that Braunstein was saying over and over (as if this could make it true) that Vallone had nothing to do with the Jobs for New York/REBNY mailers that turned off the entire community. Another was John Dorsa telling a community leader in Broadway-Flushing that Paul Graziano had nothing to do with the downzonings in their community or helping them try to get landmarked.
Just because you keep on saying something over and over again doesn't make it true.
Here's proof that Adam Lombardi is talking out of his ass.
Here's proof that Adam Lombardi is talking out of his ass.
Must be those rose-colored glasses that he wears. They also make him forget that he was buddy-buddy with Dan-O Halloran.
Have the votes been officially recounted? Friend just called and said there is a ton of chatter on Facebook that has Paul Vallone declared the offical primary winner as of about an hour ago.
Have the votes been officially recounted? Friend just called and said there is a ton of chatter on Facebook that has Paul Vallone declared the offical primary winner as of about an hour ago.
Don't believe the Vallone trolls on Facebook or anywhere else. The gap between Vallone and Shafran
narrowed over the weekend, and that's just the beginning.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/paul-vallone-democratic-council-nod-article-1.1458662#ixzz2fB5VAmmK
Looks like stinky pulled it off
Seriously though, he can't be considered a favorite when lots of the community got turned off with Jobs4NY, having only won 30% of his primary, let's see how much money he's got left over
All of the Graziano and Chrissy supporters will hopefully come out now and support Dennis Saffran and spread the message loud and clear throughout the District that Vallone is malicious, fails to take a stand on any position (in the last election he advised the Conservative party leaders he was anti-abortion(and look at his Vote Your Faith Ad!), but to Toby Stavisky and the party Dems he is pro-choice. Whatever is convenient for whatever forum. He would do a disservice to our District! Anyone but Vallone!!
There's no way in hell I'd vote for saffran.
Regardless of what everyone thinks on here thinks, Vallone will actually get this district some fucking funding. Avella and Dan had pathetic funding coming back into district 19. 12 long years.
If you're voting for saffran, you're either a hardcore republican or bitter that your candidate lost the race, not because he's the best man for the job.
And if you're voting for Vallone, you're not voting for the best man for the job or any man for the job. You're voting for a fucking coward who couldn't show up for a debate so he used a dead judge as an excuse, tried to cover up the fact that he is a lobbyist, and used his father as an excuse and used dead children to scare voters into choosing him. A pathetic piece of shit that District 19 is going to be stuck with for 8 years unless they wise up. 4 years of Saffran and then a different Dem is better than 8 years of Vallone.
How long do you think Vallone sucked Crowley's dick to get the County endorsement? And how is it possible, that Adam Lombardi, the gadfly of County, didn't turn his back on Vallone for betraying him and selling out?
WAIT til you hear what comes out about Vallone's dirty dealings in the district and elsewhere...
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