The slate of write-in candidates that captured two Village of Old Westbury seats on June 16 vowed Friday to continue their fight for a third trustee seat after representatives of the challengers and village officials clashed during a second day of recounting votes at the Nassau County Board of Elections.
Leslie Fastenberg, a New Voice of Old Westbury candidate who lost the election to incumbent Andrew Weinberg by three votes, went down by four votes following the opening of two absentee ballots on Friday after picking up a vote in Tuesday’s recount session.
Gerard Sweeney, a village resident and attorney who represented Fastenberg at the recount, called for the village to count seven ballots of residents who swore in affidavits that they were properly registered as residents of Old Westbury but were not registered with the county Board of Elections.
But Steven Schlesinger, an attorney who was representing Weinberg, argued against the affidavit ballots
“There is no provision for affidavit ballots in the village election law,” Schlesinger said. “I think they are void and insufficient.”
Schlesinger also argued against the opening of four out of five absentee ballots, claiming that they were sent in by voters who were not registered to vote in the Village of Old Westbury.
He later agreed to open two of the five ballots.
Marina Chimerine and Cory Baker, running on the New Voice of Old Westbury slate with Fastenberg, defeated trustees Harvey Simpson and Christopher Sauvigne in the election on June 16.
Chimerine won a 1-year term, defeating Sauvigne, who was appointed to the board last year.
Baker and incumbent Trustee Andrew Weinberg received the most votes in the race for two at-large four-year terms.
Fastenberg requested a recount after determining that some votes were not counted because some voters did not place their ballots in boxes specifically assigned to the write-in candidate. She said election officials were instructed not to assist voters in the booths.
Attorney David Schwartz, who represented Cory Baker on Friday, claimed that regardless of whether or not the voters were registered to vote, the affidavit ballots should be opened on the basis that they were coming from village residents.
“The Village cannot create policies to disenfranchise voters where they clearly intend to vote,” Schwartz said. “Based on those materials, these are all residents of Old Westbury and therefore should be counted.”
“You don’t need to be registered,” Baker added. “All you need is to be a resident.”
The two absentee ballots that were opened on Friday were cast on behalf of the incumbents.
“We could go to losing by two to losing by four, but at least you have a shot, and you let everyone’s vote count,” Sweeney acknowledged before the recount began.
Lawyers for the village are claiming spoilage on five of the seven affadavit ballots on the grounds that they were opened by the village. The two sides agreed not to open three of the seven affidavit ballots when it was determined that they were not sent in by village residents.
Schwartz said the remaining four affidavit ballots should be opened and charged that village officials were seeking to rig the election.
“They opened it, and now they’re going to claim that it’s spoiled,” Schwartz said. “It’s so obvious that this whole thing was fixed so that these write-in candidates could lose.”
The attorneys for both sides also reviewed the votes recorded on voting machines used during the election.
The paper ballots printed from the machines revealed that many of Fastenberg’s votes had not been counted because they were written in the wrong column.
Attorneys for the New Voice of Old Westbury said many voters were unaware that if they opened the second door inside the voting booth, they were immediately locked out of opening the third door, which was where Fastenberg’s name was supposed to be written in. As a result, they said, more than 20 votes for the write-in slate were not counted.
According to Sweeney, election monitors were told by a village official to not assist voters in the booths.
The official declined to comment on the issue.
“It’s the luck of the draw,” Sweeney said. “If people do it wrong, you lose. That’s why it’s so hard to do a write-in campaign.”
In addition to not counting votes that were written in the wrong column, the village is also arguing against votes that did not explicitly say Leslie Fastenberg, such as votes that say “L. Fastenberg” or just “Fastenberg.”
“What is the intent of the voter? When you write Leslie Fastenberg, there could be no other intent of what that particular voter wanted to do,” Schwartz said. “I don’t care if they write L. Fastenberg — the intent of the voter is the intent of the voter.”
The attorneys on both sides will be receiving copies of the paper ballot before reconvening and determining the next step in the recount.
Village of Old Westbury Mayor Frank Carillo defended the election process.
“The process is very fair,” Carillo said “This is the procedure you’re going to do.”
