Tiffany Caban declared victory over Melinda Katz on election night. (Laura Hanrahan)
July 3, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan
The count of roughly 4,000 absentee and affidavit ballots is underway in the Queens District Attorney Democratic Primary.
Counting began early this morning at the Board of Elections’ (BOE) Forest Hills office and is expected to go until 9 p.m. this evening and may continue on Friday.
BOE received close to 6,300 paper ballots but about 2,000 of those have reportedly been deemed invalid for a variety of reasons, including the ballot being mailed too late, the form being filled out incorrectly or the voter not being a registered Democrat.
The final count will determine whether public defender Tiffany Cabán will hold her lead over Borough President Melinda Katz in the contentious race. Prior to today’s count, Cabán had the upper hand with a narrow margin of 1,199 votes.
Despite the fact that Cabán claimed victory on election night, and that the absentee ballot results are not expected to change the outcome in favor of Katz, the Borough President has refused to concede until all the votes are counted.
Cabán appears to be preparing for the unexpected, though, having retained election attorney Jerry Goldfeder. She has also filed a preemptive lawsuit against the BOE, Katz and the five other candidates on the ballot in case Cabán’s team determines that the validity of the results needs to be reviewed by a judge.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face off against Republican Candidate Daniel Kogan and is likely to win in the general election. Kogan has said that he would step aside for judge Greg Lasak—who came third in the Democratic primary—to run as the GOP candidate.
Others in the Republican party have suggested that the nomination should go to Katz if she were to lose to Cabán. Katz, however, issued a statement yesterday dismissing the idea.
“All votes must be counted in the Democratic Primary for Queens District Attorney, but regardless of outcome, I have declined the Republican Party nomination for Queens District Attorney,” Katz said. “I believe in Democratic principles and they have led my career.”
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5 Comments
So the whole election will be decided by a handful of votes. Remember what His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama is quoted as saying: “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.”
The November election is a long way off. All Voters are free to vote for any candidate then.
Looks like the corrupt Queens Machine, led by former rep Joe Crowley trying to steal the election from Caban! everyone who works at Board of Election was appointed by Crowley and Bolz, who working as the attorney fro Katz! They should check every single vote, as the Machine probably went out and got people to do absentee and affadavit votes for Katz as protective measure – if Crowley and Bolz get caught , they should go to jail.
This stinks of Queens Machine corruption – Crowley wants his cousin as Borough Prez to take Katz’s job, so that his corrupt family can still make money from Queens, while he lives in Virginia. He won’t let go of the cash cow here!
Corruption! Stealing Election! Jail! Oh my!
Tired of your unfounded, unsubstantiated, and irresponsible screeds. The valid Democratic Party voters of Queens have spoken. If you’re registered as a member of another party or an Independent, you can’t vote in the Democratic Party primary. Period.
Now it is time to recount ALL the votes. Both sides have top-notch lawyers. Have some patience.
Queens Eagle reports that “Cabán’s campaign has called people who submitted affidavits to find out who they voted for.” Plus their lawsuit insists that each Paper Ballot AND the accompanying envelope be photocopied.
Seems like an outrageous invasion of privacy!