Pheffer-Amato demands a recount

Queens Chronicle 

Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-Rockaway Park) is calling for a recount in the general election for Assembly District 23 against Tom Sullivan.

The race, which has remained officially undecided with 246 votes separating the candidates and Sullivan holding the lead with 94 percent of the vote counted, has yet to be called.

Last week, Pheffer Amato said in a statement, “It is important for EVERY vote to be counted. The Board of Elections is currently awaiting absentee, military, overseas and affidavit ballots to be received. While it may take some time, we must embrace the rules and laws in order to have an official result.”

Sullivan was notified of the lawsuit via an email from the Queens Board of Elections office just before 11 p.m. last night, he told the Chronicle. Late last week, he received one informing him that Pheffer Amato was being represented by Sweeney, Reich & Bolz, LLP, Long Island-based attorneys who are mainstays in the Queens Democratic Party. Pheffer Amato and Frank Bolz signed the lawsuit, which lists both Sullivan and the city BOE as respondents.

It calls for the court to order as issue to determine the validity of all ballots cast in the general election, for an accurate tally to be determined under the recanvass of the votes cast and for all ballots to be recanvassed by hand, according to the documents, which were obtained by the Chronicle.

The lawsuit states that over 1,000 absentee and affidavit ballots are left to be counted and that the absentees are done on a rolling basis and the affidavits are scheduled to be canvassed tomorrow, Nov. 16. 

Southeast Queens is still the election dealmaker and dealbreaker

NY Post

Democrat Kathy Hochul has black voters to thank for saving her job as governor against hard-charging Republican challenger Lee Zeldin, an election results analysis shows.

While Zeldin’s law and order campaign made inroads with once blue-leaning Asian, Jewish and Latino voters, black voters were Hochul’s firewall in southeast Queens, central Brooklyn, Harlem and parts of the Bronx, the analysis found.

Hochul garnered a staggering 90% or more votes in many of the city’s predominantly Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean districts — the same working and middle class voters who propelled Mayor Eric Adams last year.

“Oh, absolutely. Oh, definitely the black community elected Kathy Hochul governor,” said state Assemblywoman Inez Dickens. In Dickens’ 70th Assembly District, residents delivered 27,968 votes for Hochul, and just 2,287 for Zeldin.

According to Dickens, Zeldin is too closely associated with former President Donald Trump for black voters — and isn’t seen as a moderate in the mold of former three-term GOP Gov. George Pataki. Trump endorsed Zeldin just weeks before the Nov. 8 election.

“If Zeldin was a Pataki Republican, he would have done better,” the Harlem political veteran said. “He was considered a Trumper by black voters. That was a very, very big part of it.”

Queens doesn't want no stinkin' restaurant sheds

 

Queens Eagle 

The Queens Borough Board voted Monday night against the city’s plan to permanently expand outdoor dining throughout the five boroughs.

With 13 voting against and 6 voting in favor, the City Councilmembers and Community Board chairpersons on the borough’s advisory board overwhelmingly said the city’s plan to permanently allow sidewalk cafes wasn’t fleshed out enough to get their OK.

The board, which issues advisory opinions, said that it wasn’t keen on voting to allow the Department of City Planning and the Department of Transportation to implement the program before the details of the program have been codified.

“We appreciate what the text amendment is trying to do, pretty much we could agree with it, our issue really revolves around the fact that the text amendment is coming fist, before we have a fleshed out program from DOT,” said Betty Bratton, the chair of Community Board 10. We’re opening the door to do something before we have an understanding of what we're going to do.”

“We don’t need to give permission for something to happen, before we know what the permission is going to allow,” Bratton added. “Otherwise...we’re buying a pig in a poke.”

The city has been shopping around its text amendment to community boards for several months.

Citywide, 20 boards voted in favor of the text amendment, 23 against, one had no objections and one board, Queens Community Board 14, waived their right to vote.

The amendment would essentially remove geographic restrictions on sidewalk cafes. Currently, sidewalk cafes are only allowed in a few parts of the city.

The expansion would apply to most commercial corridors in Queens and throughout New York City, but how the program would work – barring the fact that DOT would enforce it – has yet to be written.

Community Board 13 voted in favor of the amendment but at Monday’s Borough Board meeting, board chair Bryan Block said his members still have worries.

“We had serious concerns..about enforcement by DOT,” Block said. “We don’t want to stop restaurants...we want to support our restaurants but enforcement is key.”

Block said that his district already doesn’t have all of its quality of life issues addressed in a timely or efficient way, especially when it comes to late night parties.

According to DOT representative Albert Silvestri, the NYPD and Department of Environmental Protection would continue to enforce noise complaints coming from restaurants participating in the new program. However, if a restaurant continues to be the subject of complaints, it would “impact their standing within the program.”

And now a final word, actually another prepared statement full of Transportation Totalitarians talking points from Commissioner Hank Gutman:

 "Open Restaurants not only helped save New York’s world-renowned restaurant industry, it also showed how we can dynamically reimagine our streetscape,” DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman said in a statement. “Developing design guidelines will ensure that this emergency program can be transformed into a permanent part of our city, anchoring restaurants in our communities so that this program continues to flourish.”

 Restaurants are already anchored in communities you dotard. GTFOH 

Now it's a mayoral race

  

Queens Chronicle

 

Eric Adams’ lead shrunk significantly when the Board of Elections released updated mayoral race results Tuesday.

As of June 29, Adams claims 51.1 percent of the Democratic Party vote, but Kathryn Garcia trails closely behind with 48.9 percent.

On election night last week, Adams took home 31.6 percent of the vote, followed by Maya Wiley with 22.2 percent and then Garcia with 19.4. Andrew Yang conceded quickly despite holding onto fourth place through 10 rounds of ranked-choice voting eliminations.

Wiley had remained ahead of Garcia until the 11th round and was then eliminated.

Democracy, as John Lewis said, is an act. And New York City residents engaged in one of the central acts of democracy! They voted. And they acted when they chose overwhelmingly to adopt ranked-choice voting,” Wiley said in a statement following the result release. “I said on election night, we must allow the democratic process to continue and count every vote so that New Yorkers have faith in our democracy and government. And we must all support its results.”

Shut the fuck up Maya.

New Jersey frees the weed

 

 

 PIX News

  In the face of a budget crisis, New Jersey residents voted to legalize marijuana, which could be a huge source of revenue for a state still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Phil Murphy had pledged to legalize marijuana when he ran for election. He said the hundreds of millions in estimated tax revenue would go toward the state’s public pension payments and school aid.

New Jersey State Sen. Nick Scutari said he would introduce a bill to regulate the new industry as early as Thursday.

"Just because it passes today or tomorrow doesn’t mean it’s legal today or tomorrow," Scutari said.

Currently, New Jersey spends about $143 million per year on marijuana enforcement, according to a 2017 report by the American Civil Liberties Union.

There had been efforts to legalize recreational usage through the state legislature, but it was ultimately added to November’s ballot instead.

All sales of marijuana products would be subject to New Jersey’s 6.625% sales tax. Towns can pass ordinances to charge local taxes as well.

 

 

22,000 votes got spoiled in Queens election results

Queens Eagle

New York’s arcane election laws are preventing some candidates and election observers from reviewing nearly 22,000 invalidated ballots, say a group of Queens political activists.

The Board of Elections only allows candidates and election attorneys to review copies of ballot envelopes deemed invalid if they receive a court order to do so. A spokesperson for the BOE, Valerie Vazquez, said people who request copies of the envelopes with a court order also receive a notation of the preliminary determination, which explains why an absentee ballot was tossed by election officials. It could be that the envelopes were filled out incorrectly or were not postmarked, she said. Campaigns, usually through election attorneys, can then challenge those disqualifications.

Overall, 21,980 ballots were preliminarily disqualified, according to a handwritten breakdown provided by BOE officials to members of the New Reformers, a political organization that represents a slate of candidates for Democratic district leader positions. 

  In an email exchange shared with the Eagle, BOE attorney Steve Richman told attorney Arthur Schwartz, who represents 20 Queens candidates, that the candidates did not submit a request to review ballots by a Wednesday morning deadline. Schwartz countered that the deadline applied to a review of registration records and not to observe invalidated absentee ballot envelopes.

“Why do you have to be Mr. Difficult. Let the observers look at the envelopes which aren't being opened. Maybe it will enhance your reputation of being open and transparent,” Schwartz wrote.

Melinda Katz and Juamme Williams celebrate cheap victories in pathetic low voter turnout election

 NY Daily News

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams cruised in his bid for a full term, and Melinda Katz easily won her race for Queens District Attorney Tuesday after a slow Election Day with dismal voter turnout.

New Yorkers trickled to the polls in an off-year election in which the biggest draw might have been a ballot question that proposed a change in the way local races are decided.

Voters approved a city charter change allowing voters in future elections to rank candidates and eliminate costly runoffs.

Under the newly-approved plan, which will begin in 2021, voters will list candidates by preference in case no one wins a clear majority.

Among the measures supporters was Williams, who was celebrating a victory on both fronts.”

"It’s a great validation,” said Williams, who won with 77% of the vote. "People came out and their voices were heard. Over the next two years we’re going to continue our work to reshape the city. 
There is so much left to do.”

Williams, who defeated Staten Island City Councilman Joe Borelli, a Republican, won a special election last winter to replace Letitia James, who won election as state attorney general.

Also celebrating was Katz, who is currently Queens Borough President. Her general election road to the Queens DA seat was much easier than her primary election path, which ended in a court-battle win over insurgent Tiffany Caban.

Katz was elected by a nearly 3 to 1 margin over little-known Republican opponent Joe Murray
 

“We are an unbelievable borough,” Katz said in her victory speech. “We all want a better life for our families than we had ever dreamed for ourselves. We need to make sure there is an infrastructure of support for our young people. Young people need to know it is safer not to pick up a gun than it is to pick up a gun.”

“We are facing here an opportunity to make a national model for criminal justice reform,” Katz added. “We need to make sure we get it right here”

Great validation??

AMNY


Early voting apparently made little difference in shaking off the indifference of New York City voters.

The recent trend of remarkably low voter turnout in the five boroughs didn’t seem to get a boost from nine days of early voting, according to figures from the city’s Board of Elections. What started out on Oct. 26 only yielded a cumulative total of 60,110 voters by the time early voting closed on Nov. 3, the Board of Elections reported.

Less than 40% of registered voters in New York City participated in the 2018 midterm elections, and just 23% turned out for the 2017 mayoral elections. Early voting is expected to help reverse the downward trend in voter turnout in the years to come.

But the program didn’t appear to make a positive impact on the 2019 race, and some recognized early on that the rollout of early voting was not without its flaws.

Mayor Bill de Blasio had called the state legislation to adopt early voting “a chance for us to reinvigorate our democracy,” at a Queens County Democrats pre-election party on Oct. 29 and touted how easy it was for to vote himself.

“I glided into my poll site in Brooklyn and I was out of there in like, five minutes, and it is going to open up a world of opportunity where a lot of people previously thought that voting was not something that they could focus on or take time for, now they’re going to have every opportunity, weekends and weekdays and all sorts of different times when they can vote,” de Blasio said.
Few New Yorkers, however, took the mayor’s advice, as the BOE data indicated.

Manhattan came in with the highest number of early ballots cast at 19,865, followed by Brooklyn at 17,976, Queens at 13,129, the Bronx with 4,893 and Staten Island garnering 4,247.

Those numbers are a far cry from the total number of active and inactive registered voters in the five boroughs, according to state Board of Elections data. The totals are as follows: Manhattan, 1,197,797; Bronx, 833,172; Brooklyn, 1,637,055; Queens, 1,282,887; and Staten Island, 319,473.

When analyzing the city and state data, amNewYork determined that only 1.14 percent of all registered New York City voters participated in early voting across all five boroughs this year.










 

Affidavit votes disqualified by the Board of Elections pushed Katz's slim victory

NBC News

 Eighty percent of the approximately 2,800 affidavit ballots cast in the 2019 Democratic primary for Queens DA were disqualified — but it’s not clear how many of the voided voters still don't realize their ballots didn’t count.

 The I-Team obtained a list of more than 2,300 disqualified voters.

Though the list was not confirmed by the Board of Elections, two sources close to the ongoing court challenge between Tiffany Caban and Melinda Katz did confirm the list.

Some voters on the list said the Board of Elections has so far failed to notify them — even as a high stakes court battle proceeds to determine if Katz's narrow victory over Caban should stand.

 “I have not received any such notification (or any mail otherwise) from the Board of Elections,” said Sophie Epstein, a registered Democrat who said her vote for Tiffany Caban disqualified because she failed to check the “Democrat” box on her affidavit ballot.

 Mark Miller, a long-time Astoria resident, told the I-Team his vote for Caban was voided after a poll worker advised him to cast an affidavit ballot at the wrong polling place.

“We should be finding reasons to count the votes, right? Not reasons to not count the votes,” Miller said.

Queens D.A. recount comes at a price for Katz and Caban

THE CITY

With the recount process set to begin Tuesday in the tense Tiffany Cabán-Melinda Katz Democratic primary battle for Queens district attorney, both campaigns are tallying more than just votes.

Insurgent candidate Cabán, with about $35,000 left to spend, is invoking the electoral stalemate in fundraising pitches. Recent emails ask supporters for contributions to ensure a fair recount against a “party machine that has ruled local politics and suppressed democracy for decades.”

Meanwhile, Queens Democratic Party stalwart and Borough President Katz has about $332,000 on hand. But that’s offset by nearly $360,000 in outstanding bills, the bulk of which she owes to consulting firm Red Horse Strategies, records show.

Katz attorneys Michael Reich and Frank Bolz are volunteering their services, said Matthew Rey, a campaign spokesperson. He added that the campaign is now “just starting to raise money” for the recount and general election.

Prominent election attorney Jerry Goldfeder and Renée Paradis, Bernie Sanders’ former voter protection director, are on Cabán’s payroll.

Katz, who initially appeared to have lost the crowded June 25 primary race to Cabán by 1,199 votes, pulled ahead by a mere 16 last week after a count of paper ballots.

The thin margin triggered a full recount of some 91,000 votes, which is expected to take at least a week — and every day will cost the campaigns. Both candidates have already spent upwards of $450,000 each in the past month, campaign disclosure forms filed last week show.

Sarah Steiner, an election lawyer and a former chair of the New York City Bar election law committee, noted there are “almost never recounts this big.”

“Recounts are usually in a single district,” Steiner said. “Usually, they’re in the smaller races. By sheer scale of larger races, usually the gaps between voters exceed the half of one percent in a recount.”

Just before the recount begins, attorneys for Cabán and Katz are scheduled to appear in state Supreme Court. Judge Jeremy Weinstein is expected to rule on whether 114 affidavit ballots with missing information should be validated and counted.

Despite recent accusations by the Katz campaign that Cabán’s team was cherrypicking affidavits favorable to her and effectively suppressing votes, both sides agree that every valid ballot should be counted.

“More than 100 affidavit ballots from registered and eligible Democrats were wrongly invalidated by the [city Board of Elections] — and we will be in court Tuesday morning to make sure these voters are not disenfranchised,” said Monica Klein, a Cabán spokesperson.

Reminds me of a Warren Zevon song. Send lawyers, votes and money