South Queens Assembly race likely headed toward recount
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Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato and Republican challenger Thomas Sullivan remain locked in a close race for Assembly District 23. Photo via NYS Assembly/Ballotpedia
By Rachel Vick
Eight votes.
That’s all that separates incumbent Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato and Republican challenger Thomas Sullivan in the race for Assembly District 23 after the most recent count of absentee and affidavit votes, a source familiar with the race told the Eagle.
With a handful of ballots still left to count, Sullivan continues to hold a lead in the race. However, his approximately 250 vote lead that he held on Election Day last week has shrunk considerably.
With the vote differential so slim, it’s likely that even after the additional ballots are counted, including overseas, military and straggler absentee ballots, the race will be headed for an automatic recount.
The recount isn’t expected to be held until after Thanksgiving, meaning a winner in the race likely won’t be determined until the end of the month.
The tense wait for results in the race for Assembly District 23 between the incumbent and the Republican has been amplified by a lawsuit filed by the incumbent’s lawyers alleging voter fraud in the district on Election Day.
Lawyers for Pheffer Amato filed a petition in Queens Supreme Court on Nov. 15 when Sullivan led by 246 votes, requesting a hand count and alleging fraud.
The suit alleges that “votes were cast by persons who signed the polling place registration book but were not… the duly enrolled voter whose name they signed,” and that people voted both with an absentee ballot and at a polling site.
The suit also calls out what Pheffer Amato and her attorneys say was a particularly high voter turnout in areas where Sullivan did particularly well, including in Breezy Point and parts of Howard Beach.
“We continue to count mail-in ballots and in-person ballots from Election Day, we are committed to making sure every valid vote is counted,” Pheffer Amato said in a statement this week. “That is our responsibility as Americans, and as participants in our democracy.”
“Anyone who could not get to the polls on Election Day still deserve to have their vote counted and their voice heard,” she added. “We've suffered greatly from repeated attempts to stop valid votes from being counted by those who seek to subvert our democracy for their own benefit. We will not allow that to happen here in Queens.”
Pheffer Amato is being represented by Long Island-based Queens Democratic Party mainstays Sweeney, Reich & Bolz, LLP in her suit.
In addition to the hand count of absentee paper ballots, the suit is requesting hard drives from voting machines for a recount.
Sullivan’s filed response to the suit denied the allegations and has said the suit is without grounds.
A court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 21.
He also said that his vote totals are attributable to a high voter turnout from Republicans who felt motivated by the entirety of the Republican ticket, including the party’s candidates for governor and congressperson.
When he received notice of the lawsuit, Sullivan tweeted a vague criticism of the Democrats’ push for absentee counts.
“The "Party" of EVERY vote must count is concerned over large voter turnout,” he wrote Nov. 14. “Time for a Snikers [SIC] Bar.”
The Eagle was unable to reach both Sullivan and Pheffer Amato for comment.
The race was one of the slowest to be counted on Election Day. As of Thursday, the Board of Elections’ unofficial Election Day results counter still showed that only 94 percent of scanners in the district had been counted.
On Election Day, Sullivan had received 15,246 and Pheffer Amato had 15,000 in the district comprising part of Ozone Park, Howard Beach and a significant portion of the Rockaway peninsula.
Should Sullivan win, the area will become the only Republican stronghold in the borough – the district, which saw very little change under this year’s redistricting, overlaps with the City Council district currently represented by Republican Joann Ariola. No other area in Queens is represented by a Republican at more than one level of government.
Pheffer Amato has served in the seat since 2016. Her mother, Audrey Pheffer, currently serves as the County Clerk of Queens County and previously served as the assemblymember in the district from 1987 until 2011.
The incumbent appeared to take the challenge from Sullivan, a local businessman, seriously.
In the weeks leading up to the election, Pheffer Amato, a moderate Democrat, released a campaign video that mentioned that she would not vote to reduce budgets for law enforcement and vowed to “strengthen” the state’s bail laws. Both policy points were championed by Republicans, as well as an overall emphasis on crime in New York, this past campaign season.
