Counting absentees ballots for Essex Cty. D.A.

[absentees]

Heard tonight on Channel 5, WIPS news, absentee ballots are still being counted for Essex County District Attorney. Sprague leading Garcia by 75 votes, waiting for absentees ballots to be counted to determine who the winner is. Seems to take a long time to count the ballots?

[count]

kristy is way out in front just heard.to bad

[some perspective on it]

Kristy isn't way out in front. Today I showed up in the morning to watch the count. Come to find out Kristy got a court order to get copies of ballot envelopes and absentee applications. Why did she wait to the last minute to reqeust this. WHY DID SHE REQUEST THIS? Maybe a little nervous? She held up the ballot counting process and a judge ordered only the "affidavit and disabled voters ballots to be opened. I called later in the day and found the gap narrowed. It is no longer a 75 vote lead for Kristy. Now it's like a 60 vote lead for her. They only counted half of the disabled and affidavit votes. I was told there was somewhere around 325 votes and they only counted half of them. So there is hope for Julie.

count wrote:

kristy is way out in front just heard.to bad

[Some perspective]

here is a legitimate update.....
Essex County DA count to continue
By LOHR McKINSTRY, Staff Writer

November 12, 2009 06:52 pm

Thursday’s absentee-ballot count in Essex County slowed to a crawl following a legal motion by District Attorney-elect Kristy Sprague in State Supreme Court.
Sprague faced incumbent DA Julie Garcia in the election, winning by 75 votes on Election Day, 6,053 to 5,978.
Sprague picked up another 63 votes in Thursday’s count, while Garcia got 61.

SLOW GOING
Sprague wanted copies of one-time absentee ballot envelopes and applications, but her counsel, Paul DerOhannesian II, agreed that counting of permanent absentee ballots could begin while copies were made.
After six hours of counting, with attorneys for Sprague and Garcia examining each ballot and envelope, the County Board of Elections had reached the Town of Minerva and counted 124 of 266 permanent absentee ballots.
Once the permanent absentees are counted, 573 one-time absentee ballots remain to be counted, probably sometime next week.
The deadline is Monday, but Muller signed an order granting the county more time.

HUNDREDS RETURNED
Essex County sent out 1,169 absentee ballots, and 858 had been returned by the deadline.
Of those, 266 were permanent absentee ballots, used by disabled voters and others who vote absentee in every election. The rest are one-time absentee ballots, used by voters who are going to be out of town on Election Day.
Affidavit ballots are used when someone who is not listed in voter-registration records goes to a poll to vote.

DELAYED START
The count had been scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Thursday but was delayed until after 11 while attorneys for the candidates conferenced outside the Essex County Supreme Court courtroom.
Appearing before Supreme Court Justice Robert Muller, DerOhannesian said they had agreed to begin the count of permanent absentee, emergency and affidavit ballots, which would be made available to lawyers for both candidates during the count.
Garcia was represented by attorney James Long, while County Attorney Daniel Manning III represented the Board of Elections.

COUNT BEGINS
The count was held in the county’s former modular jail, located behind the county complex in Elizabethtown. The building is now used by the County Board of Elections for storage.
When the process began, Sprague, Darrow, Long and Manning sat at a table in front of Democratic County Election Commissioner David Mace and Acting Republican Commissioner Patti Doyle.
Darrow and Long scrutinized every ballot as the commissioners counted them, often asking questions and making notes. They physically examined each ballot application and envelope.
The first ballot challenged was from Crown Point.
“I’m going to chop this one,” Darrow said.“It’s an application for the Nov. 8 general election.”
The election was Nov. 3.
Both commissioners said they would have counted the ballot, but under the court order, ballots challenged by either Darrow or Long were laid aside.
Mace began filing challenged ballots into a large envelope for final determination by Muller. By the end of the day, though, only three had been challenged.

COUNTER-SUIT
Long filed a counter-suit challenging Sprague’s right to challenge absentee-ballot applications on the grounds that she was not a registered voter in Essex County at the time of the election. Although Sprague said she moved from Clinton County to Essex County just before Election Day, she was not yet eligible to vote in that county.
In a second hearing early Thursday evening, Muller said he would rule later on Garcia’s motion but that Sprague and her lawyer could have the copies.
“Whether there’s some legal issue that would prevent you from doing something with what you find will be determined by me,” Muller said.
He asked how the count was proceeding.
“Slowly, without major problems,” DerOhannesian answered.

[Some perspective]

Julie has JUST a good a chance of winning as Kristy. Anyone to think otherwise has their head in the sand.

[absentees]

"some perspective on it" thanks for your intelligent post. I am interested in the results of this race. Hoping for Julie Garcia; but will wait and see the final tally. Keep us posted perspective. Thanks.

[tthanks ph]

iam for k.s. keep us posted.perspective. thanks.

[Some perspective]

I think by the close voting the county thinks both are fit for the job. Good luck to them both and I mean it.(even though I'm hoping for Julie!).

[some perspective on it]

Like it was said earlier on another post. 60-75 votes in a county race IS NOT a big lead. In a supervisor race it is but not a county race. I'm hoping for Julie too. When you think about it, the ballots they counted today were from older, republican voters, and she still gained. Wait til they get to the one timers (vacationers, out of town, students, etc...) Hopefully she will slam kristy. WE COUNT, and it's pretty exciting to see the interest in this race. It's almost like good v. evil. I'm not saying Kristy is evil but she is part of the machine.

absentees wrote:

"some perspective on it" thanks for your intelligent post. I am interested in the results of this race. Hoping for Julie Garcia; but will wait and see the final tally. Keep us posted perspective. Thanks.

[Hello]

Kristy all the way:)

[Wake Up]

Is it me or does everyone think Lohr is partial toward Julie?

[concerned ti res]

I was hoping to see the counted votes listed on the county web site, but alas, not so. It would be nice to see how the totals change hour by hour along with the number of contested absentee ballots and by whom.

Actually, it would be very nice and informitive to have the number of ballots requested by the various towns within the county. I do find it interesting that ballots or voters are known as one-timers, permanent, emergancy or affidavits.

My other concern has to do with the listing of the people involved in the post above: "When the process began, Sprague, Darrow, Long and Manning sat at a table in front of Democratic County Election Commissioner David Mace and Acting Republican Commissioner Patti Doyle."

Just who is Darrow? Is that a shortened version of Ms. Sprague's attorney's name or did Lohr just mistype or misreport?

Again, just a few concerns and by the way, I believe on the other thread of Election Results on the night of election, some one mentioned 400 absentee ballots; it was later reported over 1000 had been sent out and only 800 were returned. I find the original comment of 400 closer to that in this piece by the Press. Did someone already know what Kristy had in mind?

[Some perspective]

What?! That article was neither pro Julie or Kristy. It stated the facts and that was it. In what way was it pro-Julie? Get off that band wagon and re-read the article.

[Some perspective]

I don't think anyone knows how many would actually be returned. They sent out over 1000 and they really had to wait over the next week for them all to be returned. Although, I still wonder what Kristy meant by she had an aggressive absentee ballot campaign. I hope her aggressive campaign to win turned some voters off. No one needs to be targeted on an absentee ballot vote. Let people make their choice; if they are out of town and voting; you can be pretty sure they have been connected with someone back home or on the internet to get the info needed to make the right choice.

[Max]

some perspective on it wrote:

Like it was said earlier on another post. 60-75 votes in a county race IS NOT a big lead. In a supervisor race it is but not a county race. I'm hoping for Julie too. When you think about it, the ballots they counted today were from older, republican voters, and she still gained. Wait til they get to the one timers (vacationers, out of town, students, etc...) Hopefully she will slam kristy. WE COUNT, and it's pretty exciting to see the interest in this race. It's almost like good v. evil. I'm not saying Kristy is evil but she is part of the machine. <quoted text>

True, but somehow someone missed the above about todays vote count..

Sprague picked up another 63 votes in Thursday’s count, while Garcia got 61.

So it's now a 77 vote lead..

[tshadowknows06]

A Big THANK YOU to all the people who make Absentee Ballots happen.

I ALWAYS got mine in plenty of time, mailed them back in plenty of time.

It's really awesome whn you are thousands of miles away and CAN STILL DO your Civic Duty.

Take your time,

Make sure it is accurate.

There is "No Fire to Put Out"

These "Ladies" can wait.

Make SURE the Process WORKS!!!

[Some perspective]

Max - really! Reporting on a 77 vote lead vs. 75 vote lead? There is still more to go and that is not news worthy?!

[Some perspective]

Tshadow - what the hell are you talking about? Ballots needed to be stamped before election; why state "take your time", etc. We all know you are a Kristy supporter and really who cares? Votes are in; no more campaigning will help either. It can go either way. The person with the most votes will win.

[Wake Up]

Some perspective, your true colors are flying high. Max stated the lead increased, as it did - yet some posts implied that Julie closed the gap. In fact she did not, it widened, ever so slightly. But that shows that the absentee ballots are likely to follow the normal voter trend (what is typical).

Tshadow was implying to take their time counting the absentee votes, not about submitting them. Try rereading the posts.

I do still think Lohr is biased, I think he's a terrible reporter. I wish that the Press Republican would send someone doqn here that could be some real journalism, but since this is only southern Essex County there is no chance at that.

[some perspective on it]

I don't think he has shown any favor towards Julie, nor a dislike for Kristy. It IS his job to keep us interested and reading. He is just reporting what he sees. He goes to every board meeting and has been watching this right from the beginning.

Wake Up wrote:

Is it me or does everyone think Lohr is partial toward Julie?