A month after New York’s Democratic Primary, Officials are still Tallying Mail-In Ballots for the Twelfth Congressional District, my District. How will they cope with the General Election in November?
In theory, the New York Democratic Primary took place on June 23rd, but the Resolution of One Race remains too Close to Call. The Contest is a source of maddening uncertainty to the Candidates and their Supporters.
The Congresswoman, Carolyn Maloney, has Represented a District that now includes, Manhattan’s East Side and Pieces of Brooklyn and Queens, since 1993. She’s rarely Confronted serious Political Opposition, but this year she faced a Major Challenge from Suraj Patel, a Young Activist and Entrepreneur, who she Beat in their Last Election.
In June, about 39,000 People Cast their Ballots at Voting Machines, and the Count on Election Night put Maloney ahead by 651 Votes, or 1.6%. But that Total did Not include more than 65,000 Votes that were Cast by Mail, and the Local Board of Elections has been Struggling to Tabulate those Ballots ever since. There hasn’t been much Progress. Election officials say that they will probably have a Final Result on August 4th, but that’s just an Estimate. It could be Later.
The Problems begin with Volume. In their Primary in 2018, 44,000 People Voted in Total. There has been a Surge of Interest during this Presidential year, and the Coronavirus Pandemic has driven Unprecedented Numbers of Voters to Cast Absentee Ballots. In a typical New York Election, about 95% of Voters cast their Paper Ballots on Optical Scanning Voting Machines.
This year, between 40% and 60% will Vote Absentee. “This wasn’t a surprise, everyone knew that there would be a huge number of absentee votes. But the Board of Elections said, ‘Our staff is our staff, and we can’t hire anyone else.’” Patel said.
The Vote Count is being Conducted in Three Warehouse-size spaces, one each in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, where Staffers are laboriously going over each Ballot to determine its Validity, under the gaze of Election Watchers from the Maloney and Patel Campaigns.
In New York, Votes are Tabulated by Assembly District, each of which includes about a 100 Election Districts. The Assembly Districts don’t Match up with the Congressional Districts, so the First Challenge is to Identify All the Ballots Cast in the Maloney-Patel Race. But before any Counting, any Ballot Sealed with any kind of Tape was Discarded, as this is not allowed in New York Voting Laws.
“The first thing that took so long is sorting the ballots by district,” Martin Connor, a Former New York State Senator who is now a Lawyer representing the Maloney Campaign, said. “Then they have to look up each voter on the Election Day poll books, to make sure they didn’t vote in person. Then they have to check that they didn’t vote in a different district. Then inspect the ballot. It’s a very time-consuming process.”
Not surprisingly, the Vote Count has generated Controversy and a Lawsuit. According to Patel, the Board of Elections should simply be Removing the Ballots from the Envelopes and feeding them into the Optical Counting Machines.
But, according to the Patel Lawsuit, the Vote-Counters are insisting that the Return Envelopes bear Postmarks of Election Day or before, even though the Brooklyn Post Office chose Not to Stamp Postmarks on any Ballots. Thus, the Board is Disqualifying All Brooklyn Ballots that Arrived after Election Day, even though some were Clearly Mailed before. “That may be as many as twelve hundred votes right there, and that’s my margin,” Patel said. According to Connor, from Maloney’s Campaign, “The courts have said you’re entitled to a fair election, not a perfect one.” A Judge will begin to Address the Case.
As of July 23rd, Patel initially picked up 2,651 Votes from Mail-In Ballots Counted in Brooklyn and Queens, giving him a 2,003 Vote Lead. But the tide turned, when the Larger Counting of Absentee Ballots shifted to Maloney’s Manhattan Turf. Maloney built a 1,100 Vote Lead over Patel as of 8 p.m., Maloney Collected the lion’s share of Votes, particularly in the 73rd, my District, and 76th Assembly Districts on the Upper East Side.
Patel last week also Sued Governor Cuomo and the State Board of Elections in Federal Court for Creating an “Election Snafu” that has Disenfranchised Thousands of Voters who Mailed Absentee Ballots. The Governor’s Executive Order required Election Boards Statewide to Send Voters a Postage-Paid Absentee Ballot Envelope, but such Mail is Not Typically Post-Marked by the Post Office. He also said there were still about 15,000 Votes to be Counted.
UPDATE
As of July 24th, Maloney now Leads by nearly 3,000 Absentee Votes.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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