UPDATE #1: The review has finally begun a little before 10 am, though it is unlikely anyone’s ballot will get counted for many hours.
UPDATE #2: GOP attorney Ciampoli has already had his first ugly outburst, lecturing a Democratic attorney that “I am going to shove your argument down your throat!”
UPDATE #3: Ciampoli is objecting to numerous absentee ballots on vague, unspecified grounds about the voters’ “qualifications,” or else referencing “the Constitution”—and getting authoritative pushback from the Dem attorneys. Nevertheless, GOP Commissioner Nastke is upholding most of his objections, even while stating that he disagrees with some of them.
UPDATE #4: According to one observer, Nastke independently decided—without Ciampoli lodging a complaint—to question the ballot from a 90-year-old woman, indicating that he intended to call her and question her.
UPDATE #5: More than 40 ballots have been set aside as of about 1:30 pm, almost entirely from spurious challenges from Ciampoli. The Democrats have gained ground, with Matheney virtually certain to win, and Nelson almost certain to lose; the remaining contest between Zan and Simmons remains very close.
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In one of the last local races yet to be decided in Columbia County, lawyers for Town Board candidates in Ghent have been scheduled to descend on 401 State Street at 9 am Friday to wrangle over the remaining absentee and affidavit ballots.
Going into the day the two Democratic candidates, Koethi Zan and Patti Matheney, were trailing their Republican opponents, Pete Nelson and Craig Simmons by margins smaller than the number of ballots left to count—or not count.
According to the Ghent candidates, the unofficial numbers from the machines and the hand counts are Simmons 950, Matheney 947, Nelson 926, and Zan 923.
There are reportedly some 121 potential votes yet to count, broken down as follows by party: Republicans 33, Democrats 71, Indpendence Party members 3, Working Families voters 1, Conservatives 1, and 12 voters unafiliated with any party (“NOPs”).
Both the Dems and Republicans are bringing in the heavy artillery, seasoned election lawyers expert in scrutinizing absentee ballot applications, postmarks, signatures, registrations, and other technical hurdles voters must surmount before their mailing envelopes can be opened.
Once the envelopes are open and combined into an anonymized , the wrangling will likely continue, as each ballot is scrutinized for stray marks, overvotes and other potential disqualifying flaws.
As of 9:10 am, the Board of Elections staff, inspectors charged with counting, and both Democratic candidates and their attorneys, were present. But the Republican candidates and their lawyers were nowhere to be seen.
The GOP is employing infamously-abrasive attorney John Ciampoli, the former Nassau county attorney who was dismissed by Nassau’s county executive in 2013. The Dems have hired attorneys Josh Oppenheimer and Bob Harding.
While it is possible that both sides could agree to open everything, and let the chips fall where they may, it is likely that they will grapple over every single ballot.
The first stage, if the parties are in a combative mood, is for either side to try to knock out some of the ballots before their enclosing envelope are opened, based on residency challenges, signature challenges, or other flaws in the application for or deliver of the ballot.
In some past counts, the Republicans have indiscriminately challenged almost every ballot envelope mailed by registered Democrats, not providing specific reasons or evidence to support the challenge.
For a ballot to be set aside, both Election Commissioners must agree with the challenge. Typically, Republican Commissioner Jason Nastke votes with the Republicans to exclude it, and Democratic Commissioner Virginia Martin votes with the Dems to uphold the person’s right to vote.
Democratic candidates have occasionally mounted challenges if they find specific and plausible reasons to object, such as evidence that the person has moved, or voted in the wrong place. But these have tended to be substantially fewer.
Wholesale challenges of Democratic ballots has, in the past, resulted in huge piles of ballots getting set aside. For the challenges to be upheld, the responsible party hasto go to court to determine which get opened. If they don’t they get opened by default after a short waiting period.
In 95% of cases, these either don’t get formally challenged, or judges order all but the very most fishy and fatally flawed ballot submissions to be opened.
Once opened, another round of blood sport begins—as the parties scrutinize the ballots themselves for mistakes or invalidating marks, then issue more challenges. And the same process begins all over again with Commissioners’ rulings, and potential court challenges.
Bottom line: Unless the parties and their attorneys are in a particularly good mood this morning, the likelihood is that Ghent residents will not know who is representing them for another two weeks or so.
