Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Special Election Coverage....Judge Judy Edition

Let me give you some updates from Newsday's Spincycle.........

"Quiet on the 'Intimidation' Front"
After all the hullabaloo about
potential voter intimidation, there have been no reports, so far, of voters actually being intimidated. Unless you count the ones who are intimidated by the cold weather.
David Stonehill of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council said he hasn't dealt with anything more serious than a few broken voting machines that were easily fixed. And Liam Arbetson said calls to Common Cause's
voter hotline have been from people asking where their polling place is located.......democrats have every polling place attended by election attorneys ready to do battle with any republican nonsense...evidently the plan is working......and here is where everyone is gathering on the Island tonight.......
"Senate Leaders, Near and Far"
Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Brunswick) will remain in Albany to take results of the seventh district special election rather than head for the Westbury Manor where Nassau Republicans huddle, according to Bruno spokeman John McArdle.Alex Navarro, spokesman of Democratic candidate Craig Johnson, said Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith is expected to join local Democrats at Leonard's of Great Neck. But Navarro added that Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has played a strong hand in the race, is not as of now scheduled to show......meanwhile the court battles continue.....

"The Court Fight"
While voters cast ballots, the major parties waged legal war in Mineola, and later in Brooklyn, over what instructions should go to elections inspectors at poll sites.
Late Monday, Nassau County Attorney Lorna Goodman issued a letter and later got a court order directing election commissioners to circulate the communication warning inspectors against routinely seeking identification from voters, except for those casting ballots for the first time.
Republicans went to court this morning, and got state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Phelan to dismiss the Democrats' case and ordered a new letter sent out to inspectors, telling them to rely on the "Reference Guide for Inspectors," and on an oath that should be administered to voters whose qualifications are challenged. A person who refuses to take the oath can be denied the right to vote.Rick Brand
By mid-afternoon, the Democratic elections commissioner, William Biamonte, filed a notice of claim to challenge Phelan's ruling. Because Biamonte is a public official, the legal manuever stays the impact of Phelan's decision. That sends the republicans then went to the appellate division in Brooklyn in an effort to challenge the Democrats' ploy........and here are some interesting facts about this special election

."The Big Picture".........Should Nassau Legis. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) win the special state Senate election in the Seventh District, he would be the first Long Island Democrat to win a Senate seat in more than two decades.The last Democrat to win a Senate seat locally was Carol Berman, who represented the 9th Senate District from 1978 to 1984. However, Berman and her predecessor Karen Burstein, who was elected in 1972, represented a district that straddled the Nassau-Queens border. and finally.....
"Absentee Ballots: By the Numbers"
No matter what the turnout, at least 2,000 votes will not be included in the election returns tonight.That's because both Republicans and Democrats last week got a court order to keep the absentee ballots at the Board of Elections headquarters in Mineola rather than have them sent out to the polling places. They will counted later on, when county elections officials do a recanvass of all ballots following the special election.
and the ever Vigilant Liz Benjamin(Capitol Confidential) has this to say.......
Odds And Ends From The 7th SD
February 6, 2007 at 6:26 pm by Elizabeth Benjamin
I will be on-line after the polls close at 9 p.m. to see what’s going on in the special election. In the meantime…
It sounds like it has been a busy - and cold - day in Nassau County, with the major parties
fighting in court over instructions given to poll watchers regarding whether voters should be asked for ID.
Here’s
more on that (here, too) - with a decidedly pro-Craig Johnson tilt - from his campaign’s “voter protection” blog.
The Albany Project has been
live-blogging the special election - again, from a pro-Johnson point of view.
I haven’t been able to find any GOP updates from
Maureen O’Connell’s campaign in the blogosphere.
UPDATE:
Here’s one. Liz....I believe that one is the Titanic Website..........andy

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