Margin Closes in 7th District Senate Race

Six days after a State Supreme Court Justice ordered the counting of absentee ballots begin in the close race for New York's 7th senate district, incumbent Sen. Craig Johnson, D- Port Washington, has narrowed the gap held by Mineola Mayor Jack Martins, R, I, C, to just 236 votes.

As of 1:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, Martins held a slight 180-vote edge after heavily Democratic districts had been counted. At that time Martins lead 41,725 votes to 41,545 for Johnson. A total of 223 absentee votes had been officially counted, with Johnson gaining 127 to 96 for Martins. A total of 437 absentee ballots are being objected to by parties, 199 from the Democrats and 235 from Republicans, with three ballots being objected to by both parties.

Election night results showed Martins being 415 votes ahead of Johnson, with an estimated 3,600 absentee ballots and approximately 150 emergency ballots outstanding. Updated numbers Tuesday night indicated that Martins led 41,990 to 41,754 for Johnson.

This past Wednesday, attorneys from both campaigns were in Supreme Court Justice Ira Warshawsky's courtroom arguing over the ballots and a canvas roll being produced. A recount was scheduled to begin this morning, but there were questions about notification as each candidate who holds a stake in the recount, i.e. is on the ballot and within a certain margin within the district, must be notified and given time to have representatives present if requested.

County attorney John Ciampoli requested last week that the voting machines from the 7th Senatorial district be "triaged," being among the first to be audited to speed up the process.  Counselors stated that they would have to verify whether that course could be taken or if the machines must be audited in the order in which they are randomly selected. Warshawsky "suggested" that should a large enough discrepancy be found, a three-percent sample audit if 7th senatorial be conducted.

The sides are due back in court Nov. 29.