Call it a case of bad initial judgment. John O. Jacoby Jr. on Monday was awarded the victory in a close election for a Lewiston Town Board seat, and the reason has everything to do with the letter between “John” and “Jacoby.” State Supreme Court Justice Frank A. Sedita III ordered the counting of ballots from 43 Lewiston voters who filled in the “O” in Jacoby’s name, instead of the oval for voting on their paper ballots. The computerized scanner that counts Niagara County votes missed those 43 votes because they are programmed to register marks in the oval. The scanner did count 21 ballots for Jacoby on which the voter filled in both the oval and the O. Acting Republican Election Commissioner Michael P. Carney sought to disallow those 21 votes because of the double marking, but Sedita refused.
New York: Government advocacy groups slam handling of botched ballot count in Rensselaer CountyTyler A. McNeil/Albany Times-Union
A trio of government advocacy groups wants the state attorney general’s office to investigate since-corrected ballot miscounts in Rensselaer County. In a letter to the attorney general’s office sent Monday, Common Cause New York, the Rensselaer County League of Women Voters and Free Speech For People scrutinized the county Board of Elections, which initially stood by the dramatically inaccurate 528-60 results of a Stephentown Memorial Library budget vote in November. A countywide recount revealed formatting errors — ovals improperly juxtaposed over text — that showed the proposition actually passed 540-279. Totals for a proposal to end an East Greenbush volunteer ambulance service program shifted from a 517-505 approval to a 2,381 to 2,250 defeat. And the approval of a state ballot proposition shifted by a few hundred votes countywide. Read Article
