Environment Party Wins Manorhaven Recount

After two days of deliberation, it is official: the Environment Party has won Manorhaven's mayoral and trustee elections.

Lawyers, county officials, and the Revival Party were all on hand to witness the recanvass at the Board of Elections office in Mineola on Wednesday and Thursday.

The final totals for the mayoral election were 452 votes for current mayor Michael T. Meehan and 394 votes for the challenger, Giovanna Giunta. In the trustee election, current trustee Brendan P. Fahey received 433 votes and running mate Patrick B. Gibson finished with 441 votes. Revival Party challengers Mark Lazarovic and Dorit Zeevi-Farrington received 337 and 324 votes, respectively.

The confusion surrounding voting in the June 15 election can be linked back to the Revival Party being removed from the ballot just days before the election. This forced all those who wanted to vote for the Revival Party to use a write-in ballot, which proved costly for Giunta, Lazarovic and Zeevi-Farrington.

"The recount at the Board of Election proved that the gap between the mayoral candidates is much smaller than was claimed by the Manorhaven Village Clerk," Zeevi-Farrington said. "We know, from talking to the people, that many could not register their votes for Giovanna Giunta due to the voting machines malfunctioning. ... It had been a difficult experience for most voters due to the fact that their chosen candidates were a write-ins, but these added obstacles only made it a lot worse for the voters."

Members of the Revival Party requested a recount because they felt that their were problems with write-in process and the ballots themselves. Their first complaint was that the small opening where the write-ins were supposed to be placed was too small and often times jammed. They added that they felt that some votes weren't counted due to misspellings on the write-in ballots.

But Nassau County Board of Elections Chief Clerk Lauren Corcoran-Doolin explained that misspellings should not have and did not affect the final count.

"They're not a problem generally," Corcoran-Doolin said. "We rule on voter intent."

To start the recount process, the lawyers involved agreed upon the original numbers from last Tuesday's election. Once the original numbers are agreed on, the ballots were recounted.

The absentee ballots were recounted first. There were two set-aside ballots in which the voter's signatures were under review. After a short period of debate, the two votes were deemed acceptable and added into the total group of absentee ballots, which were then counted and agreed upon by both sides.

After the absentee ballots were recounted, the county officials on hand — Democratic Commissioner Thomas Garry, Republican Commissioner John Ryan, Assistant to the Republican Deputy Commissioner Matt Kiernan and Corcoran-Doolin — moved onto the paper rolls from the actual voting machines. Recounting the paper rolls to determine the correct amount of votes for the write-in Revival Party consisted of determining whether or not each vote was a "good vote." Once the votes were ruled as good votes, the officials, along with the attorneys, went back and individually counted each one.

"I think it went well," said Corcoran-Doolin of the two-day recount. "It was fair and it was open. We allowed media, we allowed all sides, and we don't really have an opinion, but I think there was a fair result."

The process of counting the paper rolls was conducted separately for the mayor, and then the two trustee positions. Once the votes for the Revival Party were recounted, they were tallied together by the county officials and a final total for each candidate was given.

"They did a really good job," said Zeevi-Farrington of the people involved with the recanvass. "They were all fair. Their judgment was solid. I was very impressed."

The final step in the process was to pass the results along to the commissioners, so that they results could be made official.

"Now it will be moved to our commissioners to make the unofficial numbers official," Corcoran-Doolin explained. "And then if there are any other matters that are concerning anything outside of the votes that we counted, it will be brought to the courts — that's why we have a great justice system."

But Giunta said the Revival Party still hasn't given up hope. "It's not over," she said. "Our battle has only begun. We will continue to fight for the people and with the people to regain control of our village and bring the people back into the mix. They have been denied it for too long."

Members of the Environment Party did not return phone calls or e-mails. Their new terms are set to begin Monday, July 5.