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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21 Comments
Caban ran on her identity. She expected to be elected because of who she was and not what she believed in. There was no substance to her. Time for the “woke” crowd to wake up. It takes more than self-righteousness to convince people to vote for you. Purity is in the eye of the beholder.
You should try ever reading a single thing about it.
It’s official- KATZ WINS! May this be the first of many defeats for the AOC/VanBremer/Gianaris renegade clique!
Jimmy Van Bremer will be out of office soon enough. He looked worried standing next to Caban at the news conference. He thought he could ride her coattails into Borough President. He really knows how to pick winners, Cynthia Nixon for governor
and Caban for district attorney. Who’s next? Al Sharpton for Mayor
Gillibrand for President?
Not that I want Katz, but if Caban wins, Queens will become the “Brothel Borough”.
Working in the interests of prostitution rings isn’t progressive.
Wow, imagine being gullible enough to believe that.
Prostitution already exists, I’m shocked you didn’t know that.
But it’s nice of you to consider the pimps. They’d be out of a job if prostitution was decriminalized!
Prostitution is now contained. It stays out of sight to avoid run-ins with the law.
When it is legalized, we can have a brothel on Austin, right next to Shake Shake. It will be highly convenient, and attract lots of nice men to the neighborhood. And nice ladies too.
Just proves that every vote counts, even the mail-in ballots (absentee ballots).
When is the last time Melinda tried a case or practiced law in any way, shape or form?
Trump had zero days experience. You’re saying that made him a bad president?
Glad that Caban lost. She said she was going to reform the department, which included not prosecuting turnstile jumpers. In what way can not prosecuting someone who breaks the law be considered reform? If that was an indication of her way of thinking, then Queens dodged a bullet.
AGREED.
I have, for l years, felt strongly that the polls are rigged in NYC. I do not believe that De Blasio was actually re-elected.
Totally agree. How could NYC be that foolish???
“Eligible voters’ ballots must not be disqualified due to the BOE’s failure to provide them with adequate assistance and guidance at polling sites.”
OMG, now y’all blaming it on the poll workers? What a lame excuse.
Why didnt those crooked Board Of Election people not take Rory Lanceman’s name off the ballot after he dropped out? His name could have been crossed off the ballot. Watch who gets a primo job if Katz wins!
Lancman waited too long to bow out. Poll workers cannot mark anything on a ballot. That would be “crooked” and any stray marks on a ballot would invalidate the entire ballot.
There were 68 write-in votes, many written as a joke. The margin of victory was less than that. Think twice about throwing away your vote like that next time.
I’m really having a problem with this whole process regarding the technicalities of the voting in this election-.like Gore/Bush and wondering if this really reflects the will of the people. How do you discount an attempt at a vote? I’m not saying that I have the answers. Maybe a runoff-yet we know that usually leads to lower voter turnout and is costly .
NY has rules covering elections, and has closed primaries.
In this case, only properly, timely registered members of the Democratic Party could vote for its candidate in the Primary. If you’re registered as an Independent, Republican, Green, etc., you can’t vote in the Dem. Primary. Sorry, but that’s the law.
Voters are free to vote for ANY candidate in the General election. A voter may think they are a Democrat because they always vote Democratic in the General election in November. Check your registration online, or contact the BOE if you want to switch parties.