Patel refuses to concede as Maloney’s lead grows
by 3,700 votes in contested congressional race
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
It seems as though Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney’s streak of representing
the 12th district since 1993 will continue
after extending her lead over insurgent
Democrat Suraj Patel by 3,700 votes.
Patel, who challenged Maloney in the
2018 primary as well, walked away last
time with 40% of the vote but will not
be closing such a gap this time around
as after June 23 the absentee ballot count
continues. Maloney’s lead this time is only
about 4%, but Patel’s campaign says they
are not ready to concede.
“The Congresswoman is delighted, now
that the Board of Elections has fi nished
their preliminary scans of absentee ballots,
to have a decisive winning margin of over
3,700 votes,” a statement from Maloney
said. “Both she and the campaign are
thankful and appreciative of all our volunteers
and supporters, whose hard work
and perseverance have made this possible.”
Patel has struggled against the system
over the course of the month-long canvas
of votes. In mid-July, it was observed by
both candidates that up to 20% of absentee
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (l.) and her Democratic primary challenger Suraj Patel.
ballots were discarded by the city Board of
Elections over missing or late postmarks in
compliance with state law.
“Today, six weeks after the primary —
and with more than 12,000 ballots rejected
in our single district alone — the Board of
Elections’ initial count of the record 95,000
votes in our race has been completed, and
while no candidate secured a majority, we
accept the result that has the incumbent
ahead by less than 4%,” Patel said. “Unfortunately,
in ours, thousands of voters never
received their ballots, and for those who
returned their ballots by mail, nearly 25%
were rejected. This is not just slightly above
the norm compared with other states. It’s
100 times the rejection rate of Wisconsin.”
As a result, Patel’s campaign, alongside
Maloney’s, aimed to take the Cuomo
administration to court for voter disenfranchisement
claiming that voters have
no control over whether or not their ballot
is postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service.
The Patel campaign observed that many of
those missing postmarks had arrived at the
BOE on June 24, the day after the cutoff.
PHOTOS BY MARK HALLUM
For Patel to concede now, a campaign
spokesperson argued, would only undermine
their effort to have some of the
12,000 invalidated ballots redeemed as
they represent three times the margin of
Maloney’s current lead.
Patel’s additional statements went along
the lines of others who observed the policies
that led to so many ballots being deemed
invalid: that the dysfunctional results of
mail-in voting in New York is a black mark
on the practice and will negatively impact
the November presidential elections.
Mayor says arrest of young female protester in
Manhattan happened at ‘the wrong time and place’
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters
on Wednesday that the arrest of
a young woman during a protest
Tuesday afternoon during which NYPD
offi cers aggressively shoved her into the
back on an unmarked van took place at
“the wrong time and the wrong place.”
A video of the arrest shows offi cers dragging
and shoving a person, later identifi ed
as 18-year-old Nikki Stone, into the back
of gray minivan while fellow offi cers shout
and rush towards onlooking protesters.
Demonstrators were taking part in a march
at “Abolition Park,” the plaza next to City
Hall where activists set up encampments in
late June to pressure the city into slashing
$1 billion from the NYPD budget.
NYC is taking after Portland – a trans
femme protestor was pulled into an unmarked
van at the Abolition Park protest
– this was at 2nd Ave and 25th Street.
NYPD’s force depicted in the viral video
was shockingly similar to tactics used by
federal agents in Portland, Oregon where
offi ces have grabbed and placed protesters
Mayor Bill de Blasio
into unmarked vehicles.
“First of all, a lot of us have watched in
pain what has been going on in Portland
and the fact that you see federal offi cers,
federal troops clearly doing inappropriate
things meant to undermine our democratic
process. That’s just thoroughly unacceptable,”
de Blasio said when questioned about
PHOTO BY BEN FRACTENBERG/THE CITY
the NYPD’s tactics. ” This is not Portland…
So, I think it was the wrong time and the
wrong place to effectuate that address.”
The NYPD issued a statement after the
arrest on Tuesday stating that the woman
was wanted for damaging police cameras
during fi ve different incidents and that the
Warrant Squad uses unmarked vans to
“effectively locate wanted suspects.”
In regard to a video on social media
that took place at 2 Ave & 25 St, a woman
taken into custody in an unmarked van
was wanted for damaging police cameras
during 5 separate criminal incidents in &
around City Hall Park. The arresting offi
cers were assaulted with rocks & bottles.
When she was placed into the Warrant
Squad’s unmarked gray minivan, it was
behind a cordon of NYPD bicycle cops in
bright yellow and blue uniform shirts there
to help effect the arrest.
De Blasio followed the statement by
defended the NYPD stating that it was
the agency’s responsibility to follow up if
someone has committed an offense and
then warned demonstrators to take a lesson
from recently deceased Congressman John
Lewis and protest peacefully.
“I want to affi rm very clearly that no one
is allowed to damage police property that
is a real offense. That is an offense that can
lead to an arrest and my message to everyone
if you are out there protesting protest
peacefully… there are lots of powerful ways
to make an impact without damaging any
property, it will lead to consequences. “
Schneps Media July 30, 2020 3
link
link
link
link
