Melinda Katz casting her vote in the June 25 election. (Melinda Katz)
July 4, 2019 By Christian Murray
Melinda Katz has declared victory in the Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney, following the manual recount on Wednesday of thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots.
The margin of victory over Tiffany Cabán was 20 votes, according to several well-placed sources. The City was the first publication to attribute the razor-thin margin to the Board of Elections.
The vote differential, however, is so slim that it will result in an automatic manual recount of all 80,000-plus ballots cast. A margin of victory below 450 votes (0.5 percent) triggers such a recount.
“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 Queens District Attorney.”
Katz anticipates a tough battle ahead before the election results are certified, expected to be done by mid July.
“We know that these numbers can and will be subject to the recount, and there may be legal challenges, but what matters most is the will of Queens voters….This is Democracy.”
Many Cabán supporters were stunned by the change of events. Cabán started the day 1,199 votes ahead of Katz only for the lead to vanish. They questioned the integrity of the BOE, which has a reputation of being staffed by party loyalists.
When Cabán declared victory on June 25, her supporters were convinced the results would hold, since they knew that Katz needed to win an overwhelming majority of the 6,300 absentee and affidavit ballots that had to be counted. Additionally, there were six candidates vying for the votes.
Yesterday’s count was controversial, since the BOE ruled out about 2,000 affidavit ballots. They were reportedly deemed invalid for a variety of reasons, including the ballot being mailed too late, the form being filled out incorrectly or the voter not being a registered Democrat.
The Cabán team plans to review the ballots to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Her team remains confident that she will prevail.
“Queens voters are inspired by Tiffany Cabán’s campaign and her vision for real criminal justice reform. If every paper ballot vote is counted, we are confident we will prevail.”
The winner is expected to face GOP nominee Daniel Kogan in November.
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15 Comments
I’m not a big fan of Katz, but we are better off with her than with the radical left Caban represents which includes the AOCs, the Ramos, the Cruz, etc. In other words the Socialists.
Interesting opinion. Do you have anything to actually say?
Why does socialism appeal to you people?
If you have anything that’s not just your opinion feel free to share.
No doubt that Queens Board of Elex rigged the absentee , and affadavit votes for Katz. All Board of elections in Queens appointed by Joe Crowley, who is desperate for Katz to win, he donated to her and wants his family to take over her seat as Queens Borough President. Plus Crowley attorneys Bolz and Reich “overlooking” absentee ballot counting. They are trying to steal the elections, just like Crowley and his attorneys kept all opponents off the ballot to oppose Crowley throughout his time in Congress, so he always “won”, and Bolz , Sweeney, and Crowley cronies became multi-millionaires because Crowley appointed the judges in surrogates court. Crowley and his cronies and family members who did this should all go to jail for election tampering and corruption.
Enough of your conspiracy theories and your obsession with Crowley under various post names! Charges of election tampering and corruption are reckless and unfounded.
The Democratic Party has well-established, long-standing rules for its primaries. First of which is that Affidavit ballots have to verified Democratic Party voters. And the absentee envelopes were opened in front of both camps, and witnessed by scores of people and lawyers, including JVB.
JVB was there, so ask him if this was rigged. It wasn’t. He should clarify this for all of the voters of Queens.
Gardens watcher is a Crowley ! There is no doubt that joe Crowley needs Katz to win – that he wants one of his family members to take Katz position as Borough President – and that Crowley never earned his seat in Congress- he was appointed by queens machine and then they bullied all potential candidates who wanted to run against him – he is a greedy , phony and he and his family and Bolz and Reich have rigged this Katz victory !
Election tampering for so many years should mean jail. Crowley mad a fatal error this time.
Nope. Not a Crowley, nor his relative, nor his employee, etc. Nor a name-changing, bogus poster like you. Wonder what the hell Crowley ever did to you, since you’ve been on his case since his primary last summer.
Are you saying Gardens Watcher that Crowley and Bolz do not control the Board of Elections? Are you saying that Crowley was EVER legitimately elected to Congress ?? You believe that Crowley, Bolz, Reich are honest and fair? You either work for them, or are very naive. They have been vote tampering for years – this interference with Caban vote opens a can of worms to investigate years of crimes and corruption from
Team Crowley. I believe corruption and criminal activity should be exposed ?
I think we should count ALL the votes; it’s a shame you don’t. I guess we should just let Katz’s attorney decide which votes count and which don’t?
There were about 4300 validated post-election ballots (per article above: 630 gross minus 2000 disqualified). To wipe out the nearly 1200 Caban lead, Katz needed a lead of 1200 votes JUST in those ballots — that is, about 2750 to 1550 — or a 64% to 36% win.
Come on guys! This clearly strains credulity vs the close to 50-50 election night margin.
As the new result is very different from the election night, then it should be contestable purely for statistical reasons, unless there is REGULARLY that much variation in voting booth vs absentee ballots.
No doubt Crowley and his lackeys Bolz, Reich Sweeney “overlooking” the election count ! Crowley needs Katz to win so his family and friends continue to corruptly earn money in surrogate’s court. Caban should check every single vote – how did they vote ? Crowley camp went out to homes and got people to sign affadavits for Katz. It is criminal now.
Absentee voters tend to be older. Read NYT article, which I won’t link since they’re in the tank for Cabán with their endorsement.
Come on, Will. NO “post-election” ballots would be valid.
Absentee ballots had to be postmarked by June 24, the day BEFORE the election, and received by July 2.
As I’ve said from the get go, count ALL the votes.