How can it be that two days after the primary, things are such a mess? Is this how a democracy functions?
Are these rhetorical questions ... or is the person quoted really that stupid?
Posted on 06/30/2012 10:12:52 AM PDT by neverdem
NEW YORK — It’s been four days since Charlie Rangel’s primary. And it’s still not entirely clear who won. The veteran Democratic congressman might be the winner in New York’s 13th District, but no one really knows. It’s a bizarre situation that just keeps getting weirder, a strange case of missing precincts, questionable ballots and utter confusion over who’s to blame for the mess and when the race might be settled. (PHOTOS: Charlie Rangel's career) What’s known is this: As of Friday evening, 32 precincts – six percent of all votes cast – had yet to be accounted for. And another 2,447 affidavit ballots and 667 absentee votes hadn’t been counted yet either. According to the city Board of Elections, Rangel’s lead over second-place finisher state Sen. Adriano Espaillat stood at 1,032 votes, with enough outstanding ballots to alter the outcome. Naturally, the courts are now involved. On Friday, the state Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit brought by the Espaillat campaign, asking it to examine the squirrelly vote-counting process. A hearing is scheduled for Monday. Before things went off the rails, Tuesday night had been an evening of celebration and vindication for Rangel, who seemed to have survived the most serious reelection threat of his 42-year career in the House. After initial tallies showed the congressional titan jumping to a 20-point lead over Espaillat, Rangel took to the stage at Sylvia’s, the famed soul food institution located on Harlem’s Lenox Avenue, to declare victory and then party late into the evening with boisterous supporters. But as Tuesday turned to Wednesday and more votes trickled in, something strange happened: Rangel’s margin of victory began to shrink, first to five points and then, by midday Wednesday, to two points. (Also on POLITICO: Rangel's love for Obama unrequited) After delivering a concession statement the previous night, Espaillat released a new statement Wednesday that suggested the race wasn’t yet settled. “Our message of bringing bold, new ideas to change Congress connected with voters, as demonstrated by our strong show of support and the voting results that continue to come in,” he said. Not much has changed since then. And the race might remain in limbo for days, if not weeks. Valerie Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the New York City Board of Elections, said that with the July 4th holiday approaching, officials wouldn’t begin processing the affidavit and absentee ballots until the end of next week. And should the margin between the two candidates diminish to one-half of one percent or less of all votes cast, she said, the elections board would undertake a manual review of all ballots cast. The spectacle — and the surrounding chaos — has the city’s political class staring in disbelief.
“The fact that we’re wondering who won the race at this point is a little silly,” said Doug Forand, a New York-based Democratic consultant whose firm worked for Espaillat. “It could end up being a long time before we know the outcome.” “Between questions about vote totals and paper ballots, it’s enough to throw the race into question,” he added. “I think Rangel comes out on top, but at this point it’s no guarantee.” The race continued to play out Friday, as election workers in three offices in New York City scrambled to reassess votes that had been cast three days earlier. At one office in lower Manhattan, officials hunched over computers in a heavily air-conditioned room, trying to determine whether voters who filled out affidavit ballots on Tuesday would be eligible for their votes to be counted. At another location, election workers gathered in a cavernous, warehouse-like room and, one by one, uploaded memory cards from voting booths across the upper Manhattan congressional district onto computers in hope of coming to a final vote tally that, to this point, has been elusive. How the fate of a congressman who was once one of the most powerful officials in Washington came to be decided under banana republic circumstances is a question that has baffled even seasoned New York pols. “How can it be that two days after the primary, things are such a mess? Is this how a democracy functions?” Ruben Diaz Sr., a state senator from the Bronx who was neutral in the race, wrote in an essay published in local papers Friday. “Will this mean that from now on, candidates will have to wait two or three days before conceding the seat, or do we have to send the people from the Board of Elections to a counting and additions course?” In an interview, Vazquez, the spokeswoman for the embattled Board of Elections, defended the office’s efforts, saying that it had simply followed the vote counting process as prescribed by city law. The reason six percent of votes had not yet been tabulated, Vazquez said, is that the police officers tasked with providing an unofficial record of the data from those precincts after securing voting boxes on election night had not done so. Once election workers downloaded voting files from each precinct to reach an official total, Vazquez said, a complete count would be reached. On Friday morning, Vazquez said a final tally would arrive by 2 p.m. that day. That hour, however, came and went without any results. By the end of the day, there was still no news. While election workers continued the tedious task of reviewing ballots, there were indications that tensions between the Rangel and Espaillat camps were beginning to escalate.
From Espaillat’s backers came accusations that Rangel’s powerful supporters were influencing the vote counting, slowing the process and preventing the challenger’s side from receiving information. And they say they are particularly concerned about the remaining six percent of ballots that have yet to be counted – which, they contend, come from areas where the state senator receives the most support. “It’s crazy,” said Espaillat chief of staff Aneiry Batista, who spent Friday watching officials download reams of voting data. “I’m frustrated by the system,” she added. “They don’t want to give us answers.” At the lower Manhattan elections office, monitors for both campaigns sat on opposite sides of a room, staring at each other and arguing as votes were examined in an office next door. “They don’t care about the numbers that haven’t been counted,” Joe Louis, an Espaillat supporter, said in the direction of Rangel’s volunteers. In his hand, Louis held a thick sheaf of papers showing voting data that, he said, had zeros for Espaillat in neighborhoods like Inwood and Washington Heights — places where the state senator has strong levels of support. “You don’t know the statute,” a Rangel volunteer shot back. Ethnic and racial tensions also are bubbling to the surface. Espaillat’s backers contend that many Hispanic voters had been turned away from the polls on Tuesday as they tried to cast ballots for the state senator, who is trying to become the first Dominican-American member of Congress. Leonel Fernandez, the president of the Dominican Republic, has reached out to Espaillat to see if he can offer any assistance, according to an Espaillat aide. On Friday afternoon, a group of liberal activists had been scheduled to march in front of the Federal Election Commission in downtown Washington, protesting what they saw as a concerted effort to disenfranchise Hispanic voters in the race and to call on the office “to investigate claims of voter fraud and intervene in this disputed primary.” So far, the candidates themselves have managed to keep a distance from the chaos. Espaillat has not made any public comments about the race since Wednesday, and Rangel simply shrugged when asked about the uncertainty in a Thursday TV interview. “I’m not hearing anything because I’ve been on the floor, I’ve been at legislative meetings, I’ve been at caucuses,” he said. If Rangel or his allies in Washington are concerned about him losing a race that seemed in the bag just a few days ago, they’re not showing any signs. On Thursday afternoon, two days after the election, Rangel was seen walking into a Democratic caucus meeting with Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the longest-serving member of the same Congressional Black Caucus that Rangel co-founded. “All hail the king!” Conyers said of Rangel. John Bresnahan contributed to this report.
Ping
At least, we know Holder won’t show up.
Wonder if Rangel will accuse Espilliat of being “not black enough” or the new Black Racist moniker “White Hispanic”
Rangel is an oversized used douchebag. If he was white he would be in jail
How can it be that two days after the primary, things are such a mess? Is this how a democracy functions?
Are these rhetorical questions ... or is the person quoted really that stupid?
“Wonder if Rangel will accuse Espilliat of being “not black enough” or the new Black Racist moniker “White Hispanic””
Coming soon to a neighborhood near you, Blacks fighting with Hispanics over the electoral spoils. Here in California, Blacks originally sought to “join forces” with Hispanics, and for a time, they did. But now that Hispanics are a force in their own right, they’ve told the Blacks to Eff off!
“How can it be that two days after the primary, things are such a mess? Is this how a democracy functions?”Yes.
In third-world countries and Democrat strongholds.
Just like their hero, Gore, concede first then change your mind and get the courts involved. Conceding ought to be the end. No one person can be so important that they must win a particular election. Until Gore, it was “I’ll get you next time.” Now we live in a banana republic. It is interesting to see Democrats use vote fraud against each other. Who’s got the popcorn?
Voter fraud in Rangels district, say its not so....
Democrat primary - Classic case of vote fraud run amok. A real cluster clinton, ROFLOL!
Rangel is the true measure of the level of corruption, but if he were a white pol in a similar white district, he would never be prosecuted. All the law types have been bought off.
Rangel is the true measure of the level of corruption, but if he were a white pol in a similar white district, he would never be prosecuted. All the law types have been bought off.
AS i posted, now on next page, Rangel was uncontested on Working Families Party line . He will be on the ballot
Good, let both rats run and perhaps a Republican, if any even ran, can win with the split rat vote.
Our country is corrupted beyond recuperation. What a mess. If there is fraud in the South American country where I spend much time, at least it is committed smoothly.
Funny stuff - - rat vote fraud versus rat vote fraud.
hee hee hee SO, the problem is the Police Officers not doing their job? What is really happening is Rangel supporters are fabricating enough votes to assure his re-election.
Joseph Stalin: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes decide everything."
http://www.votefraud.org/josef_stalin_vote_fraud_page.htm
LOl...can’t certain groups ever get anything right? Always a crisis.
...a strange case of missing precincts, questionable ballots and utter confusion over who's to blame for the mess and when the race might be settled... As of Friday evening, 32 precincts -- six percent of all votes cast -- had yet to be accounted for. And another 2,447 affidavit ballots and 667 absentee votes hadn't been counted yet either... Rangel's lead... stood at 1,032 votes, with enough outstanding ballots to alter the outcome... the state Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit brought by the Espaillat campaign, asking it to examine the squirrelly vote-counting process. A hearing is scheduled for Monday.Let me be first to say, "Roberts' fault". ;')
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