The BOE certifies the results of the Queens District Attorney’s race and names Melinda Katz the winner Queens (Photo: Melinda Katz)
July 29, 2019 By Allie Griffin
The Board of Elections unanimously certified the election results in the contested Queens District Attorney Democratic Primary race today, naming Borough President Melinda Katz victorious over public defender Tiffany Cabán.
Despite the board’s certification, the race is far from over, as Cabán’s campaign continues to contest more than 100 affidavit ballots in court that it says were erroneously invalidated by the BOE. The next court hearing is set for July 31.
In a statement, a Cabán campaign spokesperson said they viewed the outcome of the election “undetermined” until the court renders its decision.
“Today’s certification by the BOE is a formality that will allow our campaign to move forward with its efforts to restore wrongly invalidated ballots in court,” said campaign spokesperson Monica Klein.
“Our campaign is fighting to protect Queens voters from being disenfranchised and allow their voices to be heard. Eligible voters’ ballots must not be disqualified due to the BOE’s failure to provide them with adequate assistance and guidance at polling sites. Until then, the outcome of this election remains undetermined.”
Katz beat Cabán by about 60 votes following the manual recount, according to published reports.
The contested affidavit ballots, 114 in total, were tossed out by the BOE since they contained voter errors or were cast at the wrong polling site. The majority of these ballots—roughly 70—were not counted because the voter did not clearly state their party affiliation.
The court ordered that the BOE had to certify the current results before Cabán’s campaign could legally contest the uncounted votes.
“More than a 100 ballots cast by eligible and registered Democratic voters continue to hang in the balance, and will determine the final outcome of this election,” said the campaign’s attorney Jerry Goldfeder.
The primary was held on June 25 with Cabán originally leading Katz by more than 1,199 votes, until affidavit and absentee ballots were counted, putting Katz ahead by a mere 16 votes. The small margin called for a manual recount in which more than 90,000 ballots were sorted and recounted.
Katz welcomed the board’s announcement and said she was holding a party for her supporters tonight at a Forest Hills bar/restaurant called Banter tonight to celebrate.
“This is a great day for the people of Queens, who have waited patiently for the long recount process to conclude. Today, the Board of Elections certified that we have won the campaign for the Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney. I am grateful to the Board, and particularly to the dozens of BOE employees who undertook the painstaking work of evaluating each of the over 90,000 votes cast in the primary.”
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17 Comments
Friend post this in Astoria. Apparently five journalists investigating Crowley and co-conspirators for their crimes.
Election was rigged for Katz by Queens BOE.
indisputable facts
1- Joe Crowley’s attorneys, Long Islanders- Bolz, Reich and Sweeney have run the Queens BOE for decades and in charge of giving blessing, or hiring, every employee at Queens BOE.
2- Sweeney Reich Bolz, Crowley and many attorneys in his family have all become multi-millionaires due their control of Queens elected officials and corruption in surrogates court.
3- Joe Crowley , now a lobbyist (the most disgusting profession in the world) , needs Katz to win, because as a lobbyist he needs “influence” in NY and Queens to increase his “value”. His brother Sean Crowley, and brother-in-law Ramon Martinez also lobbyists! plus cousins need Katz in courts, so a family of crooks- and they all need to retain connections and “influence” , hence Katz will continue to be their puppet.
4- Katz , who is running to be DA, the chief prosecutor of Queens has ZERO court experience and never prosecuted a case in her life! Crowley/Bolz?Reich/Sweeney chose her, and they plan to put a Crowley in as Borough President if Katz wins, and they also need to keep their control of surrogates court to keep raking in the corrupt dollars.
5. Everyone in Queens politics (Meng, VanBramer, Meeks, Nolan etc) aware of this corruption and suppression of democracy for over 20 years, basically Crowley, Bolz, Reich and Sweeny HAVE CHOSEN EVERY SINGLED ELECTED OFFICIAL in QueensCrowley , who was initially “appointed” to Congress, kept his seat for 20 yrs cuz Bolz, Reich, and Sweeney blocked (illegally) everyone else from getting on ballot.
6. AOC slipped past Bolz, and got on ballot, they arrogantly did not worry about a 28 yr old Latina bartender socialist.
7. Crowley never “served” constituents, he moved to Virginia, arrogantly thinking he should represent Queens and the Bronx from Virginia, served himself, he is not very bright lacks charisma, inarticulate and basically sat in D.C. acting like a lap dog for Hilary Clinton and then Nancy Pelosi. Little talent, but he did whatever Clinton and Pelosi told him to, so he could climb the ladder. Pelosi will soon be embarrassed by the fact that he was never even legitimately elected to Congress, and she was “grooming” a corrupt phony.
8)Bottom line – BOE has a history of corruption, “creating” ballots, donors, rigging elections, blocking viable opponents – guarantee that if they investigated all the absentee ballots, affidavits and check with the actual “voters” – fraud will be discovered.
Crowley, Sweeney, Reich, Bolz and Katz will be found out. Rigging this elections sealed their fates. Someone suggested a Pulitizer for the journalist who uncovers it the fact that Queens has not had a democratically elected official in decades- thanks to Virginia Joe Crowley and his three attorneys from Long Island.
Yawn
Really? Which five journalists? Barkan wrote numerous articles about the Machine, but his latest one in The Nation discounted any fraud or “rigged” results in this DA election. And Caban’s campaign has distanced themselves from these kind of wild conspiracy theories — as they should.
Maybe someone should start looking into who is behind the continuing anti-Crowley charade crusade? And why? Doesn’t sound like simple revenge.
These posts have moved from mere distractions and are getting more unhinged by naming public officials. Editor needs to take note before some nut decides to do something about this.
From today’s NYTimes op-Ed:
“Cesar Sayoc Jr., the man who sent package bombs to Democrats and journalists he viewed as hostile to Trump, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In a court filing, his defense lawyers describe how he was radicalized. “He truly believed wild conspiracy theories he read on the internet, many of which vilified Democrats and spread rumors that Trump supporters were in danger because of them.”
Gardens Lackey, This is starting to sound like an 8chan manifesto. Don’t try posting under or anything close to my name.
This is all true. No one can refute these statements? It is relevant as democracy has been suppressed in Queens for two decades by greedy buffoons Crowley , Bolz , Reich and Sweeney – it’s a big deal, and illegal.
OMG, if all true, and illegal and such a “big deal,” you really should contact the FBI. Don’t forget to give your real name(s) to the tip line.
Tell them your posts on this same screed track back to at least the AOC/Crowley race last summer.
This was rigged by Queens machine.
The absentee ballots were all “procured” by BOE workers , who were all appointed with blessing of Crowley —and his attorneys Bolz and Sweeney and Reich.
Those three have been controlling elections and results in Queens for decades – it is election tampering. This will be their downfall.
Did you ever vote absentee? You have to mail in the form to apply, including checking off a valid reason for applying. The BOE checksthe records to verify your identity and mails you a ballot back after checking your registration.
Your charge of election tampering and “rigged” is without merit. Even if you keep repeating it on every article.
There you go again bringing logic, law and and reason into the discussion. This will not be tolerated, you’re obviously a dem Tammany machine tool and racist ( I know Tiff is white, but that’s a secret, most people don’t know what race means). Oh, you’re a homophobe too.
I don’t make racist or homophobic posts. Never have, never will.
Take the compliment and move on.
You should have stopped after your first sentence. Sacasism gets buried after that.
“Eligible voters’ ballots must not be disqualified due to the BOE’s failure to provide them with adequate assistance and guidance at polling sites.”
So you’re going to blame the poll workers? Really? What a lame reason.
This “Gardens Watcher” trolls and is Katz/Crowley/Bolz employee paid to refuse all legitimate negative comments about how Queens BOE is controlled by the Machine and this Katz election is being rigged? He or she works for the paper or Crowley machine?
Nope, wrong again Melissa, Ryan, Johnny, and all your relatives in your clown car. But I do wonder what’s driving your anger against Crowley & BOE.
Congrats to Katz!