Over a dozen more ballots added to ongoing Queens race
/
Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato successfully filed another lawsuit to count another 14 votes in the race against her Republican challenger Thomas Sullivan. Photos via Assembly/Ballotpedia
By Rachel Vick
The race for Assembly District 23 isn’t over yet — Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato has successfully filed another lawsuit to have nine ballots previously thrown out during the hand recount added to the official tally currently separated by one vote.
Fourteen rejected ballots — 12 of which were cast for Pheffer Amato and two for Republican challenger Thomas Sullivan — that were disqualified because voters bubbled in a name and wrote in that same candidate, have been reinstated into the count following a ruling from Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Risi issued on Friday.
It’s the second major win for the incumbent, who at one point trailed in the race by nearly 250 votes.
Some of the written names for the candidates were abbreviated or misspelled, but Risi’s ruling notes that “the fact that these voters did not write-in the full name of the party candidate is of no moment” because regulations are based on whether the voter’s intent is clear.
While the Board of Elections considered them disqualified “over-votes,” Risi again ruled in favor of the assemblymember. The net seven votes in favor of Pheffer Amato will be counted when the cured ballots are finalized.
Sullivan told the Eagle that unlike Risi’s previous ruling, he would not be appealing the decision.
The final results in the race, which Pheffer Amato currently leads by a single vote, are expected by Jan.4, when the legislative session resumes.
Sullivan said that he is instead spending his time and energy trying to cure his share of the 94 absentee ballots that Risi previously ruled could be counted, a decision upheld by a panel of judges on in the Appellate Division, Second Department. The cured ballots, which have been sent back to the individual voters, are due back to the Board of Elections by Jan. 3.
“They're still finding votes for my opponent while I'm out on Hanukkah and Christmas still trying to cure another 90 ballots… [waiting] for them to figure out how many more votes they need and then and then release another batch [to count],” Sullivan told the Eagle. “It’s never ending.”
Sullivan, a first-time candidate, has expressed frustration over the legal actions taken by the incumbent post-Election Day, when Sullivan held a convincing lead.
“My patience has run out and now my trust in the judicial system has run out,” he added. “I'm not a bitter person - whatever the court decides I still think it's the best system in the world.”
It has been more than a month since the election. Pheffer Amato was initially trailing Sullivan by 246 votes, but quickly filed a lawsuit over the rejection of 94 absentee ballots that the BOE had rejected, failing to notify voters that their ballots had been tossed in the trash.
Each of the absentee ballots had been sent to the BOE in a larger mail envelope but were not sealed in a smaller envelope designed to hold the ballot.
In rejecting the ballots, the BOE failed to notify voters that their ballots had been rejected, in violation of recently passed statewide election law.
Attorneys for Pheffer Amato argued that because the notices had not been sent out and because the new election law favored counting ballots over rejecting them, the ballots should be reinstated.
Risi agreed and ordered the ballots to be counted.
Sullivan appealed the decision and argued to the Second Department that the rejected ballots could have been tampered with by not being sealed in the smaller envelope.
However, the Second Department panel of judges upheld Risi’s decision with one minor change – rather than count the votes as is, the ballots would be sent back to the individual voters to be cured, or fixed for any defects.
Separate from the lawsuits, the BOE initiated a hand recount of the race earlier this month. The recount ended with Pheffer Amato in the lead by one vote.
Pheffer Amto’s camp told the Eagle they are confident in their ability to maintain the lead.
“Two courts came to the same conclusion – New York will continue to be a champion for democracy,” Matthew Rey, a spokesperson with Pheffer Amato’s campaign said in a statement issued after the decision was made public. “No amount of extreme rhetoric will stop us from ensuring that every valid vote is counted, and we’re once again thankful to the courts for continuing to follow the law and ruling that these ballots can be cured and counted.”
