Four candidates ran for two at large seats on Geneva’s City Council, and the two top vote getters will be seated in January. Steve O’Malley received the most votes by a substantial margin. Either the incumbent, Chip Capraro, or the newcomer, Ron Alcock, will occupy the other seat, depending on which one receives the second highest tally. Capraro trails Alcock by five votes. There are nearly 150 absentee and affidavit ballots still to be counted. In addition, alleged malfunctions in the Row A- Democratic ballot line on two voting machines throw the outcome into question.
At the District 4-1 polling location, Geneva High School, voter #65 alerted election officials that the Row A (Democrat) levers for were not working properly. She was told that a vote for Capraro could be cast on Row E (Working Families), and a vote for Stu Einstein and Steve O’Malley cast on Row F (Good Government for
Republican Election Commissioner Michael Northrup said that in response to a complaint he had a machine immediately taken out of service and emergency ballots issued. That is not what happened at either location. If Northrup was referring to the alleged complaint of voter #130 at North Street, we know that machine was never taken out of service. If it was voter #65 at the High School, we know voting continued on the machine for another 50 voters, and was taken out of service after a second complaint at that location. In both locations, no emergency ballots were offered. According to voter #115, some voters at Geneva High School were told to come back later.
Were numerous District 4-1 voters disenfranchised by the ineffective response of election officials? What was wrong with the machine at North Street School? How did this situation effect the votes people tried to cast on Row A?
2 comments:
I have already heard "on the street" that Chip Capraro should give "it a rest..." Fortunately, i have also heard on the street, that the Democratic Committee and concerned citizens should continue to press for a full analysis of what occurred with Geneva's voting machines on Election Day (even if the Finger Lakes Times doesn't get it).
After absentee ballots were counted in the Seneca Cty Sheriff's race, the second place man - James Steele - asked that the machines be safeguarded and recanvassed to assure an accurate count. The winner - Jack Stenberg - readily agreed with this request to assure the results and the count were accurate.
I think this is the right approach for Geneva as well, and the democratic process.
Why should we press for answers?
1) The election process should be one of our most cherished institutions in a democracy.
2) The election irregularities are disturbing to say the least and involve not only machine problems but how they were handled by election personnel.
3) The election is still too close to call given the irregularities.
4) We are going to have these antique machines for one more election in less than a year.
So, lets get the process of investigating these problems started and see where it leads.
1. The Democratic and Republican Committees should ask the Ontario County Board of Elections - in writing - to impound all Geneva's machines and see that they are not tampered with or reset.
2. The State Election Commission should be notified that it should anticipate a challenge to the Council-at-Large ballotting on the basis of one or more the following concerns:
a). a number of voters were not able to express their will either through a working machine or via a paper ballot
b). machine problems occurred affecting over 100 voters spread across two or districts which is 9 or 10 times the difference between the votes for the candidates in question
c). election workers may have mishandled the machine problem scenario
d). election procedures were not followed properly by the poll workers
3. Finally, whatever we do, we should not wait for the election results to be certified. All the needed research and documentation that can be developed should be compiled and prepared for submittal by a New York based attorney to all the approapriate parties.
Genevans, help us put the story straight. If you were a personal witness to an irregularity first take a few moments to write down the cold, clinical facts of what you saw/heard. Then, please contact the Ontario County Board of Elections and let them know the facts as you recall them.
Chip! This must be an exhausting and difficult experience to go through. I know that many besides myself are thankful for your efforts.
All the best....
Ken,
Thanks for the support and bringing out some of these points. However, this issue isn't "Capraro vs. the Machines" (though the Finger Lakes Times is happy to marginalize the issue in this way).
The fact of the matter is that at least one voting machine was broken. The machine at the high school was determined to be malfunctioning by the machine custodian and was taken out of service. Unfortunately, the custodian wasn't able to get over there to make that determination until two hours after the first complaint was made. There were 50 voters who used the machine after the first complaint, and who knows whether it was properly working for the first 65 before the complaint was made.
The people on the street are not okay with this. They know it's wrong, regardless of the candidates involved. The newspaper might consider reflecting that point of view in its reporting, like they did for the close race for Sheriff in Seneca County. Instead, we again find ourselves in the midst of reporting that singles out Capraro instead of focusing on the real issue of the election results.
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