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City’s Board of Elections admits tabulation error
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JULY 2-JULY 8, 2021 13
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO AND
STEPHEN WITT
The error-prone Board
of Elections (BOE) admitted
late at night on Tuesday,
June 29, that it accidentally
added about 140,000 votes to
its preliminary ranked-choice
voting (RCV) calculations
released earlier in the day
and promised an accurate
preliminary recount soon.
In atweet, the BOE blamed
the error on not clearing test
votes from their Election Management
System before adding
up the round-by-round RCV
results. This led to an increase
of more than 140,000 votes, or
941,832 total ballots counted,
when in reality there should
have been only 799,827 counted
— those counted during
the early voting period and on
Election Day.
“The board staff has removed
all test ballot images
from the system and will upload
election night results,
cross-referencing against election
night reporting software
for verification. The case vote
will be re-generated and the
RCV rounds will be re-tabulated,”
the BOE tweeted.
“The board apologizes for
the error and has taken immediate
measures to ensure
the most accurate up-to-date
results are reported,” it added.
The BOE said on its website
that new results would be
available later on Wednesday,
June 30.
Frontrunner mayoral candidate
and Brooklyn Borough
President Eric Adams first
noticed the error after the
BOE released the preliminary
RCV results with some 124,000
absentee ballots still to be
counted.
According to those results,
Adams had a razor-slim lead
after 11 rounds with 51.1 percent
of the vote (368,898 votes),
with former Sanitation Commissioner
Kathryn Garcia in
second with 48.9 percent of the
vote (352,990 votes).
Adams issued a statement
following the BOE’s admission,
saying the mistake was
unfortunate.
“It is critical that New
Yorkers are confident in their
electoral system, especially as
we rank votes in a citywide
election for the first time. We
appreciate the board’s transparency
and acknowledgment
of their error. We look forward
to the release of an accurate,
updated simulation, and the
timely conclusion of this critical
process,” Adams said.
Garcia called the BOE’s
release of incorrect rankedchoice
votes deeply troubling.
“Every ranked-choice and
absentee vote must be counted
accurately so that all New
Yorkers have faith in our democracy
and our government.
I am confident that every candidate
will accept the final
results and support whomever
the voters have elected,” she
said.
Attorney Maya Wiley, who
came in third place just behind
Garcia and could possibly
still come out on top once
all RCV and absentee ballots
are counted, called the BOE
error the result of generations
of failures that have gone unaddressed.
“Last summer the BOE
mishandled tens of thousands
of mail-in ballots during the
June 2020 primary. It has
also been prone to complaints
of patronage. The BOE must
now count the remainder of
the votes transparently and
ensure the integrity of the
process moving forward. New
Yorkers deserve it,” she said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio also
weighed in on the BOE’s issue
on Wednesday morning, saying
the “fundamental flaws”
of the agency are yet again on
display.
“There must be an immediate,
complete recanvass
of the BOE’s vote count and
a clear explanation of what
went wrong. The record number
of voters who turned out
this election deserve nothing
less,” de Blasio said. “Going
forward, there must be a complete
structural rebuild of the
board.”
Hizzoner said he previously
offered the BOE “over $20 million”
to reform, but said they
refused. De Blasio’s now calling
on legislative action, and
is advocating for the passage
of state Senator Liz Krueger
and Queens Assemblywoman
Nily Rozic’s bill (S. 6226/A.
5691) to “professionalize” the
BOE’s in its current form and
make them directly accountable
to New York City’s elected
officials.
De Blasio is also calling
for an amendment to the State
Constitution that would allow
for a new, professional board,
removed of party affiliation.
“It’s a necessary, fundamental
change,” de Blasio
said.
Meanwhile, Queens City
Councilman I. Daneek Miller,
co-chair of the Council’s
Black, Latino and Asian Caucus,
ramped up the call to pass
his legislation (Introduction
2326) giving voters another
chance to weigh in on the merits
of RCV in the November
general election.
“Both the BOE and pro-
RCV advocates assured voters
that this would be a seamless
process, and yet, the opposite
appears to be true,” Miller
said. “The fact that the Board
of Elections is unable to determine
the source of the discrepancy
and we are still waiting
on council and borough president
tallies highlights the total
ineptitude to hold an RCV
election in what is one of the
most impactful election cycles
as we begin to recover from
the pandemic.”
Miller said the United
States has recently witnessed
what happens when the “integrity
of our elections are called
into question.”
“Right, wrong or indifferent,
Jan. 6 is a reality,” he said.
“We cannot allow this process
to erode confidence in our democracy,
and I question the intentions
of anyone who might
be opposed to putting RCV up
for a public referendum after
witnessing today’s events.”
There are multiple Queens
races that will need RCV to determine
the winner, including
the closely contested Queens
borough presidents race and
many of the crowded City
Council races.
In the borough president
race, incumbent Donovan
Richards holds a small lead
over former Councilwoman
Elizabeth Crowley as of 8 a.m.
on Wednesday, June 23. Richards
secured 41.53 percent of
the vote (64,814 votes), with
Crowley at 40.20 percent of the
vote (62,738 votes), according
to unofficial results. Termlimited
Councilman Jimmy
Van Bramer followed in third
place with 17.82 percent of the
vote (27,813 votes).
Since no candidate received
50 percent of the vote,
a ranked-choice voting count
will be needed to determine
the winner of the race after all
absentee ballots are counted.
Democratic City Council
districts 19, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27,
29 and 32 had tight races, with
no candidate making it to 50
percent of the vote. However,
City Council districts 21, 24, 28,
30 and 31 had candidates who
met the 50 percent threshold.
The BOE’s canvassing process
that began on Monday,
June 28, will continue until
all absentee and other special
ballots are counted. The second
preliminary RCV report
round by round elimination
is scheduled to be released on
July 6, according to the BOE.
Zachary Gewelb
contributed to this story.
Campaign watchers observe the canvass of absentee, military, special and affidavit ballots at the
Helen Marshall Cultural Center at Queens Borough Hall on June 28. Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
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