Recount begins in undecided DA primary
BY MARK HALLUM
The recount in the stillundecided
Queens district
attorney Democratic primary
race between Borough
President Melinda Katz and
public defender Tiffany Cabán
remained in progress as of
press time with no resolution
in sight.
When July 3 began, Cabán
had a 1,100-vote lead on Katz
stemming from the ballots
cast in the June 25 primary.
Katz had refused to concede,
opting to wait upon the Board
of Elections to count thousands
of absentee and affidavit
ballots instead.
But once the paper ballot
count wrapped up by 9 p.m.,
the contest had taken a sudden
and surprising turn in Katz’s
favor — albeit by an extremely
narrow margin. She wound
up in front of Cabán by just
20 votes.
The fragile lead shrunk
further two days later, on July
5, when the Board of Elections
unsealed six affidavit ballots
that were redeemed by lawyers
for Cabán. Five of those votes
went to Cabán while one went
to Katz.
This dropped Katz’s lead to
16 votes. The narrow margin
The Board of Elections began counting paper ballots on July 3 in the still-undecided Democratic
primary for Queens district attorney. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
automatically triggered a
recount because it represents
less than half of 1 percent of
all votes cast.
The recount began
Tuesday, July 9, at the Board
of Elections facility in Middle
Village, with workers sifting
through all 93,000 ballots cast
in the race and considered
valid by hand.
Cabán had declared victory
back on June 25 when she had
a tenuous 1,100-vote lead after
all scanners were counted. But
on July 3, after the pendulum
swung the other way, Katz
took her very slim lead and
used it to declare victory for
herself.
“We said from the
beginning that every vote
needs to be counted and that
every voter needs to be heard,
and now we see clearly why
this must always be the case,”
Katz said in a statement. “I am
proud to have been chosen as
the Democratic nominee for
for Queens District Attorney.
We know that these numbers
can and will be subject to
recount, and there may be
legal challenges, but what
matters most is the will of
Queens voters.”
But Caban’s camp
countered that the race is far
from decided yet.
“Queens voters are
inspired by Tiffany Caban’s
campaign and her vision for
real criminal justice reform. If
every valid paper ballot vote is
counted, we are confident we
will prevail,” said campaign
spokesperson Monica Klein.
The July 3 count of 3,550
affidavit and absentee ballots
began with over 30 poll
watchers and counters taking
tallies between Katz and
Cabán.
“Our expectation is that
Cabán will win, but we want to
be respectful to all the voters,”
Jerry Goldfeder, an election
attorney representing Cabán
said on the morning of July 3.
Read more at QNS.com.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by email at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4564.
Lawsuit fi led by Cabán campaign shows BOE distrust
BY MARK HALLUM
Court documents filed by
lawyers representing Queens
district attorney candidate
Tiffany Cabán indicate that
the public defender has
confidence that she will rise
above her opponent if only 114
affidavit ballots are validated
independent of the Board of
Elections and counted.
The court proceedings to
determine the validity of the
affidavit ballots was adjourned
at a July 9 hearing, with a
judge ruling that he would
wait until after the recount
before hearing arguments.
Cabán’s campaign has
charged that the Queens
County Democratic Party has
the power to sway judges and
Board of Elections official
to suppress the vote in ways
that only work in their favor,
which the complaint filed by
her campaign reflects.
“As reflected in the votes
cast by the Voting Machines
and on Paper Ballots in
the Primary Election were
exceedingly close, with only
a marginal number of votes
separating Cabán and
Respondents-Candidates,” the
complaint reads. “It is possible
that Respondent Board of
Elections, in canvassing the
Paper Ballots, may be unable
to determine the validity of
individual ballots, or may
err in determining for which
candidate the individual
ballots were cast.”
Attorneys for Cabán, Renee
Paradis and Jerry Goldfeder,
worked throughout the day on
July 3 to count paper absentee
ballots and verify affidavits as
the race became increasingly
tight between her and Borough
President Melinda Katz.
Katz ended primary night
1,100 votes behind Cabán,
but at the end of the count on
Wednesday, she had pulled
ahead by 20 votes — enough
for the borough president to
declare victory.
“Our campaign, and all
of Queens, is up against
a party machine that
has ruled local politics
A copy of the lawsuit filed by Democratic primary candidate
Tiffany Cabán in the Queens district attorney primary. P h o t o :
and suppressed democracy
for decades. Our communities
are calling for a criminal
justice system that ends mass
incarceration, uplifts our
black and brown communities,
and decriminalizes poverty
— rather than protecting the
powerful,” Cabán said on July
4. “We are still fighting to
Robert Pozarycki/QNS
make sure every valid ballot
is counted. We are confident
that if that happens, we will
be victorious.”
Six ballots that were
deemed fit on July 5 gave
Cabán five additional votes,
chiseling the difference
down to 16 with Katz still in
the lead.
“Petitioner believes that,
after a complete canvass of
the Paper Ballots, it should
be determined that Petitioner
won the nomination of the
Democratic Party in the
Primary Election,” the
complaint continued.
The loaded June 25
primary had seven candidates
total splitting the vote across
the borough, including
Councilman Rory Lancman,
Greg Lasak, Mina Malik, Jose
Nieves and Betty Lugo.
Lancman dropped out of
the race the Friday before
the primary and threw his
support behind Katz, leading
some to speculate there had
been a political deal behind
the decision to drop out of
the race just days before an
election and after raising
$1.3 million.
Read more at QNS.com.
Reach reporter Mark
Hallum by email at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4564.
4 TIMESLEDGER, JULY 12-18, 2019 QNS.COM
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