OntheWilderSide

KW: I am with Newsday columnist Joye Brown, who asserts we need a full, hand recount in Suffolk County. The reason you have paper ballots is in case things go wrong. Things went wrong. I want to be assured that the new system accurately counts the results of this first general election, where things got mixed up. Un-mix them. Do the full, hand recount. (And, by the way, that might help make sure that the vote totals for third parties get looked over carefully, too. With all the human error and the discrepancies, let’s make sure that every person’s, every vote, counted — even if they voted on a third party line near the bottom of the ballot.)

We need full, hand recounts in the races of: Randy Altschuler v Tim Bishop in the 1st CD is Suffolk, Dan Losquadro v Marc Alessi for NY State Assembly in Suffolk, and Jack Martins v Craig Johnson in Nassau.*

(excerpt from) Newsday
Counting ballots in contested races is only fair
by Joye Brown / November 9, 2010

Count the ballots in all of Long Island’s still-contested races by hand. Every single one of them. It’s the only way to ensure a transparent result.

Besides, that’s what all of those paper ballots are for anyway…

There is plentiful time for the boards of elections in both counties to dissect, as they should, what went wrong on Election Day. Perhaps poll workers require more training. Perhaps the machines should be retooled. As it is, the Democratic elections commissioner William Biamonte and former Republican commissioner John DeGrace in Nassau have federal and state lawsuits pending on whether the county’s machines even work.

But that review process should be separated from counting votes. Residents need to know – and have confidence that the new system can accurately determine who won.

The system was built to include a paper ballot backup. Any recount would take several weeks – under the watchful eyes of teams of Republican and Democrat elections board workers – along with lawyers representing candidates.

As of a Wednesday afternoon court hearing, the judge has still not decided whether to grant the Bishop campaign a full, hand recount. Story at Riverhead Local: here.

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*Though, I can’t help a mischievous insertion, very separate from the column that Joye Brown wrote. All of these contested races are incumbent Democrats who are fighting for at best, a tiny majority vote. So, in some ways, they all lost. Incumbents who do a good job shouldn’t have this much trouble. Hope that if they do stay elected, Bishop, Alessi, and Johnson rethink their stand or lack of stand on: the war, marriage equality, bank bailouts, etc. – KW

Filed under: 3rd party, Ballot issues, Election 2010, elections, local, long island, Long Island Politics, new york, New York State Politics, News, politics, progressive politics, rants, suffolk, suffolk county, third party, US Politics Tagged: | Craig Johnson, Dan Losquadro, Demcoratic Party, Elections 2010, Jack Martins, Joye Brown, Long Island Politics, Long Island recounts, Marc Alessi, Mark Alessi, Nassau County, Suffolk County, Suffolk County recount, Suffolk Democrats, Tim Bishop. Randy Altschuler, voting machines