One week after polls closed for the 30th City Council District Special Election, Democrat Elizabeth Crowley has closed the gap on Republican Anthony Como to 29 votes after the machine recount with more than 200 absentee votes to be counted on Wednesday, June 11.
Officials at the city's Board of Elections (BOE) finished the machine recount on Tuesday, and Como's slim 70-vote lead in the election to replace disgraced former City Councilmember Dennis Gallagher had shrunk by 41 votes, according to sources close to both campaigns.
"This is everything that we had discussed after Election Day," Como said on Tuesday after the machine recount. "I told everyone I was cautiously optimistic. I'm still ahead, and I prefer to be that way going into paper ballots."
BOE officials will go through the remaining absentee paper ballots on Wednesday, but officials may not certify an official winner until next week.
A source close to the Crowley campaign confirmed the new vote margin and said he would wait to comment until after all the paper ballots were counted.
When the precincts reported the votes on Tuesday, June 10, Como received 2,352 votes while Crowley garnered 2,282 votes - a 1 percent difference in vote totals.
In addition to Como and Crowley, former City Councilmember Tom Ognibene and Ridgewood civic activist Charles Ober campaigned vigorously as voters went to the polls to cast their ballots on Tuesday, June 3. Ognibene received 2,031 votes while Ober received 752 votes.
After Gallagher resigned, Queens Republicans hoped to hold onto their only council seat in the borough, and the Queens County Republican Party backed Como over Ognibene for the seat.
Como, who started his political career as an aide to State Senator Serphin Maltese, has served as a prosecutor in the Queens District Attorney's Office, counsel to Maltese and most recently a Commissioner for the Queens Office of Board of Elections, before he resigned his position to concentrate fully on the June special election.
"We are going to have a very active and dedicated Councilman working on behalf of his constituents," Maltese said. "I think the two of us working together we can be even more effective."
A lifelong Queens resident who currently lives in Middle Village, Como has been actively involved in many community and civic organizations.
"I look forward to working tirelessly for the people of Queens," Como said.
Once an official winner is declared, that person will serve until November of this year when another election will be held to decide who will serve the remainder of Gallagher's term.
From NY Daily News Political Blog by Elizabeth Benjamin:
Crowley Closes The Gap
The machine count is complete in the 30th CD, according to a source in the know, and Democrat Elizabeth Crowley is closing on Republican Anthony Como, who had a razor-thin 70-vote lead on election night.
That gap has narrowed to a mere 29 votes, with 268 paper ballots remaining to be counted tomorrow.
The stakes are unusually high in this race, with the Republicans not only hoping to hold on to their third Council seat, but also considering this a bellweather in the fight for Sen. Serphin Maltese's seat, which could prove crucial in the battle for control of the state Senate.
On the Democratic side, a loss would be a serious blow to the county organization and Chairman Joe Crowley. The party not only endorsed Elizabeth Crowley, the chairman's cousin, but threw everything it had into this race and urged its labor allies to do the same.
