ROP

New York’s certified results describe thousands of blank votes

Rose Weldon
The state of New York has certified its election results. (Image courtesy of Flickr)

BY ROBERT PELAEZ AND ROSE WELDON

Over a month since Election Day, results for races throughout New York were certified Monday, and while individual totals remained the same for most candidates, data from the state’s Board of Elections shows that thousands of voters left their ballots blank for certain races.

New York is among the last states to certify results in the 2020 election, with the only states certifying their results later being Maryland, Missouri and New Jersey, which were certifying on Tuesday, and California, on Friday.

Election tallies have slowly been posted over recent weeks in Nassau County as a large number of absentee ballots were counted, a process that did not even begin until Nov. 10, a week after the election.

Every state is required to formally certify the results of the elections by Dec. 14, when members of the Electoral College cast their presidential votes. New York certified its results a day before the “safe harbor” deadline, set in place for states to resolve any discrepancies with their results.

According to federal law, Congress is guaranteed to accept a state’s results if they are submitted before that Tuesday deadline.

Efforts to reach the Nassau County and New York state Board of Elections have been unavailing since Nov. 4.

Nassau Democratic Elections Commissioner James Scheuerman said weeks ago that 142,962 absentee ballots were cast in Nassau County this year during the COVID-19 pandemic, a figure that shatters the previous record of 48,000 in 2016.

CONGRESSIONAL RACES

Following the counting of absentee ballots, U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) won another term in the 3rd Congressional District over Republican challenger and financial professional George Santos of Queens.

While vote counts immediately following Election Day placed Santos over the incumbent congressman by more than 4,000 votes, absentee ballots gave Suozzi a final total of 208,412 votes, or 52 percent, to Santos’ 161,907, or 41 percent, across the district. Of the 398,701 total votes, the Board of Elections said that 25,747 ballots, or 6 percent of the total, cast in the race were blank.

The former mayor of Glen Cove and former Nassau County Executive will serve a third term in office, with his district representing Manhasset, Roslyn, Port Washington, Great Neck and Floral Park, among other areas, and stretching from Whitestone, Queens, to Kings Park in Suffolk County.

In the 4th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) declared victory on Nov. 4 over Town of Hempstead Engineering Commissioner and Republican Douglas Tuman of West Hempstead. She received 199,762 votes, or 52 percent, to Tuman’s 153,007, or 40 percent, while 28,742 ballots, or 7 percent, were left blank.

The 4th Congressional District is situated in central and southern Nassau County and includes Floral Park, Mineola, Garden City, New Hyde Park, Hempstead, Carle Place and Westbury. Rice will serve a fourth two-year term.

STATE LEGISLATURE RACES

State Sen. Anna Kaplan (D-Great Neck) defeated former Port Washington Police Commissioner David Franklin in the 7th Senate District. She received 89,287 votes, or over 53 percent, to Franklin’s 66,170, or 39 percent. Eight percent of the votes, totaling 12,032, were left blank.

Kaplan, who first won against then-incumbent Elaine Phillips of Flower Hill in 2018, will serve a second two-year term representing the areas of Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Williston Park, Mineola, Garden City Park, North Hills, Albertson, Old Westbury, East Hills, Roslyn, Roslyn Harbor, Roslyn Estates, Albertson, Searingtown, Lake Success, Manhasset, Munsey Park, Plandome, Plandome Heights, Plandome Manor, and the entireties of the Great Neck and Port Washington peninsulas.

In the 13th State Assembly District, Assemblyman Charles Lavine (D-Glen Cove), defeated attorney and Republican candidate Andrew Monteleone of Syosset, winning an eighth term. Lavine received 39,446 votes, or 58 percent, to his opponent’s 23,015, or 34 percent. Eight percent of the votes, totaling 5,788, were left blank.

The district includes Roslyn, Greenvale, Sea Cliff, Glen Cove and parts of East Hills and Westbury.

In the 16th Assembly District, 20-year government employee and Democratic nominee Gina Sillitti of Manorhaven overtook Republican candidate and small business owner Ragini Srivastava of Manhasset Hills after coming in short the day after the election.

Sillitti received 35,455 votes, or 49 percent, to Srivastava’s 30,263, or 42 percent. Of the 72,838 votes cast, 6,728, or 9 percent, were blank.

The district includes Great Neck, Port Washington, Manhasset, Roslyn Heights, North Hills, Flower Hill, Lake Success, Baxter Estates, Manorhaven and Sands Point. The winner will succeed two-term Assemblyman Anthony D’Urso (D-New Hyde Park), who announced in January that he would not seek re-election.

In the 19th Assembly District, Assemblyman Edward Ra (R-Garden City) won a sixth two-year term, besting attorney and retired Army Lt. Col. Gary Port of West Hempstead. Ra received 38,509 votes, or 54 percent, and Port received 26,831, or 37 percent, while 7,283, or 10 percent, of the 71,973 votes cast were blank.

The district includes Glen Head, Old Brookville, Old Westbury, New Hyde Park, Williston Park, Garden City Park, Garden City South, Garden City and Mineola.

NATIONAL RACE

After initial election night results had him down by more than 6,000 votes, Democratic President-elect Joe Biden handily defeated President Donald Trump, a Republican, in Nassau County.

Biden received 396,504 votes, or 54 percent, compared with Trump’s 326,716, or 44 percent, with 4,916 of the ballots reported blank.

Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen received 3,594 votes, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins received 1,924 votes, Independent candidate Brock Pierce received 1,901 votes, and 2,117 write-in votes were submitted in Nassau County.

Share this Article