The presidential primary election campaign has moved on to other states, as the country watches to see how the hotly contested race for the Democratic nomination will play out. But in a race where every delegate is precious, New York's "Super Tuesday" primary raised concerns about how the city counts votes and how accurate are its unofficial tallies.
As expected, Hillary Clinton, New York's junior senator, won the state's Democratic primary. The question is by how much? Last month, the New York Times reported that in many districts where her opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, was thought to have strong support, the unofficial election night tally reported that he got no votes -- not a single one. The findings created a stir. Election officials blamed human error for the inaccurate totals but skeptics and critics of the New York City Board of Elections were not all easily convinced.
A little more than a week after the February 5 primary in New York, the New York Times conducted a review of the unofficial votes tallies reported on primary night. Among over 6,000 election districts, the Times found 80 where Obama received zero votes and several others where Clinton received none. As the New York City Board of Elections conducted its official canvass of the vote, the Times found that in one district, where the results were initially reported as 141 to 0 in favor of Clinton, the election night count was actually 261 for Clinton to 136 for Obama. Instances similar to this were found in districts in Harlem and parts of Brooklyn where Obama had strong support.
In the wake of the article, other media sources weighed in. Mayor Michael Bloomberg referred to the instances as "voter fraud," an allegation he later recanted while still maintaining that the Board of Elections needed a major overhaul. The board attributed the problem to human error and emphasized the discrepancies inherent in unofficial counts. On February 26, it released the official canvass of the primary results, and while corrections provided Obama with a higher total vote count, he still came out on the losing end.
As New York State law requires, the Board of Elections releases unofficial results to the press on election night. This unofficial tabulation happens after the polls close, when inspectors at each election district open the backs of the city's Shoup lever machines-soon to be replaced by electronic voting machines-and record the vote tallies for each candidate. Poll inspectors, among the 30,000 poll workers that serve on Election Day at voting places, write the results by hand after already having put in a 17-hour long day, leaving, some say, plenty of room for mistakes to be made.
The inspectors record the vote totals on Return of Canvass sheets and hand the sheets to the police officer at that poll site. That officer then takes the sheet to his or her respective precinct office, where a police department employee enters the results into a computer. The computer records are then sent out to the Associated Press, which reports the numbers to the public that same night.
Each stage of this process provides an opportunity for error. Poll inspectors, many tired and strained after their long day, may incorrectly record vote totals on canvass sheets and police staff can make mistakes as they enter results into the computer system.
Some people theorize that in the primary this year, the design of the ballot may have added to the confusion. Clinton was first on the ballot, and while only three candidates were in the race at the time of the primary, six candidates remained on the ballot. Obama appeared fifth, just between John Edwards, who had dropped out, and Dennis Kucinich. At both stages, there is speculation that zero results intended for other candidates may have been mistakenly placed as Obama's count. There may have been fewer mistakes in recording Clinton's vote because of her position at the front of the line.
After each election the New York City Board of Elections recanvasses all of the votes, to come up with an official tally. This can take a few weeks to complete.
Teams from the Board of Elections, with members from both major political parties, open each machine and record the results to be tabulated. Representatives of all the campaigns are notified and may attend the recanvassing process on behalf of their candidates, intended to provide further oversight of the official tabulation.
In addition, the official count includes all the absentee ballots voters sent in to the Board of Elections, and affidavit (paper) ballots that are reviewed for validity by board staff. Campaign representatives also are allowed to monitor the counting process for all paper ballots.
Ultimately the official results from New York's primary didn't change the overall outcome. Clinton won the state with 1,068,496 votes, while Obama received 751,019 votes. Clinton was awarded 139 of the 231 delegates, tied to the primary results, which New York will send to the Democratic Nation Convention in August. New York's superdelegates will also vote at the convention. Though they are not bound to either candidate, most have pledged their support to Clinton.
She clearly carried New York City on primary day. Both unofficial and official counts show Clinton beat the Illinois senator by more than 100,000 votes. Vote totals changed after the official canvass, from 492,724 for Clinton and 380,008 for Obama on election night to Clinton's 527,941 votes against Obama's 413,898. Both Obama and Clinton gained over 30,000 votes after the official count, including all paper ballots that were counted, was completed.
The discrepancies in the unofficial results that were reported the day of the primary captured the attention of the media, the mayor and some good government organizations. Good government organization, Citizens Union (whose sister organization publishes Gotham Gazette) wrote to the governor to call for an investigation by New York's attorney general into the event and is still awaiting a reply. In response to media inquiries, the Board of Elections conducted its own investigation of the jurisdictions that recorded zero votes for Obama. The investigation attributed 35 of the zero counts to errors made by the poll inspector while recording the votes directly from the machines and 20 to errors made by police employees incorrectly entering numbers from the Return of Canvass sheets into the computer system. In the remaining 27 cases where Obama received zero votes, that count was correct: No one voted for him.
At a City Council Government Operations Committee hearing, Board of Elections representatives discussed how unofficial vote totals are tabulated. Asked how the number of errors this year compared to other years, the representatives acknowledged that records of those discrepancies were not available but that their "gut instinct" told them discrepancies this year did not appear to be more frequent than in past elections.
While unofficial counts are just that -- preliminary results, which are issued to the public through the press on election night -- many voters and others now seem suspicious of vote tallies provided by their governments. Some advocates argue that inaccurate vote tallies, even in unofficial counts, undermine the integrity of and public confidence in the voting process.
With more frequent reports of elections gone awry, Americans, including New Yorkers, may be paying more attention to what happens to their votes at different stages. While some may view the complaints by critics of the Board of Elections as misinformed or even overzealous, they are indicative of growing public concern about the election process and the need to provide the public with as much accurate and comprehensive information as possible. Recent election history has done little to boost voters' confidence in the voting process. As many states have switched to new methods of voting -- and with New York preparing to make a change -- voters remain skeptical of the system.
Andrea Senteno is program associate for Citizens Union Foundation, which publishes Gotham Gazette. Â
Call the community board in the Harlem district David Paterson used to represent, mention his name and on the other line comes a chuckle and the word "comedian." Ask a political observer what the new governor is like and they say "amiable," "charismatic" or "conciliatory." Wonder how the city could fare under a Paterson administration and some New York City officials say they have high hopes.
So who is this Albany veteran, besides being the state's first black and legally blind governor and a so-called ally to the State Legislature?
Paterson represented the 30th State Senate district, which comprises most of Harlem and parts of the Upper West Side, for more than two decades. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up on Long Island, graduated from Columbia in three years and then from Hofstra Law School in the 1970s. Following in the footsteps of his father -- longtime politician Basil A. Paterson -- Paterson ran for the State Senate in 1985 and eventually became the body's minority leader.
He held onto the seat until joining Spitzer's ticket as a candidate for the mostly ceremonial post of lieutenant governor in 2006, shocking some Albany observers since he was in line to become the Senate's majority leader should Democrats take back the body.
Aside from citing his congenial, amiable outlook, some say the new governor -- who is scheduled to be sworn in at 1 p.m. today -- is more progressive than Spitzer and more likely to get things accomplished given his good relationship with the legislature's leaders.
"You'll see a savvy guy that gets along with the legislature and will be able to put through more of an agenda than Spitzer, because he has a better relationship (with the legislature)," said George Arzt, president of George Arzt Communication, a political consulting firm.
So far many of Paterson's priorities remain a mystery. Faced with a budget deadline two weeks away, Paterson said he would first concentrate on getting Albany back to business, which includes compromising on a budget with the State Senate and Assembly by April 1.
An advocate for the disabled and minorities, Paterson was a member of the State Senate's minority for his entire tenure, which met legislation he proposed had little chance of passing.
Paterson's "speeches, which rely on facts and humor rather than decibels to score points, and his appreciation for the Senate's courtesies have won him wide respect," wrote Newsday's James Madore in 2002. But, the article continued, "For all Paterson's personal clout he still has few concrete results to show."
Despite that, his stands and actions pleased many progressive groups. The Working Families Party backed his successful bid to become minority leader earlier in the decade. In general, Paterson favors liberal positions on a range of issues, from opposing the death penalty to supporting gay marriage.
Whatever his ideology, some expect that under the circumstances Paterson will tread cautiously for a while. "He is not going to come in after a period of such damage and brooding and run down the gantlet," said David Birdsell, the dean of the School of Public Affairs at Baruch College. "It may look like a less ambitious agenda, but he may come in with a more realistic agenda."
Barring any major unforeseen events, the budget will be the first item on Paterson's agenda. The governor and the legislature have until April 1 to hammer out a balanced budget for the 2009 fiscal year. Although the state has missed that deadline in the past, Paterson made it clear he intended to try to meet it this year. "We have a budget that's due and a deadline to meet," he said.
The process is already well under way. Assemblyman Herman Farrell Jr., chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, told the Times that the Senate and the Assembly have passed their modifications to the governor's budget plan and will now meet to reconcile their differences.
Paterson, though, may have to play a bit of catch up. "I'm coming into a budget process where I have not been innately involved," he said on a radio program Thursday. "So I kind of feel like the student getting ready for the final exam, but they haven't attended any classes."
Even without the abrupt change in governors, the government faces a daunting task. "Since the state fiscal year ends March 31, it was going to take tremendous focus and determination to resolve a $4 billion budget gap under the best of circumstances," said James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute.
"It's particularly important," Parrott said, "to try to balance the budget in a way that doesn't cause further harm to the economy," such as by instituting steep budget cuts or increasing "regressive fees and taxes."
One issue that might be back on the table is an increase in the state income tax on the wealthiest New Yorkers. The Assembly has proposed such a hike.
"We want to try to do this (job) without raising anybody's taxes because that's what's driving people out of this state. We're pretty much the highest taxed per capita state in the union with the exception of Hawaii," Paterson said in a radio interview Friday. However he has not completely ruled out such a move, saying at his press conference, "We have a huge economic problem in this country, and I don't necessarily know when that [raising taxes] might become an issue, but I'm hoping that it won't be in the near future."
E.J. McMahon of the Manhattan Institute has urged Paterson to resist the increase. "If he accedes to more tax hikes, the new governor would send economic decision-makers the worst possible signal at the worst possible time. It would also invite a bigger budget battle with Senate Republicans," McMahon wrote in the New York Post.
If one single issue was responsible for Spitzer's landslide victory in November 2006, it was reform. He promised to root out corruption and to wake New York from what Spitzer himself likened to years of slumber. To address this, Spitzer had planned to dramatically reduce the state's sky-high campaign contribution limits and backed an independent redistricting commission that would have been charged with redrawing the lines for state legislative districts, which have long been designed largely to keep incumbents in office.
Both of those proposals may or may not become part of a Paterson agenda.
At his press conference last week, Paterson said he has a history of supporting campaign finance reform and would look to make a compromise with the legislature over the specifics. Since the state has some of the least restrictive campaign laws in the country, a compromise may not be what good government groups are aiming for.
"We want to not dictate campaign finance," said Paterson. "We want to really persuade legislators that this [current system] really is the root of a lot of the dysfunction we have in Albany."
Though Spitzer made a hallmark of good government proposals, some advocates contend the combative, steamrolling executive could have never seen them through anyway. Such controversial plans -- a stretch for even a compromising chief - would have fallen victim to the war between Spitzer and the legislature.
Paterson might be more successful at creating transparency and government reform because he has allies in the Assembly and the State Senate, said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York.
"He comes in with a reputation for having a real ability to work with people in a real bipartisan way," said Lerner. "The truth of the matter is it seems to me that Eliot Spitzer had some real commitments to some important ideas, and I think that both he and Mr. Paterson ran on the same platform."
Though confident, Lerner said Common Cause is looking for Paterson to clarify his reform agenda quickly.
The new governor backed reform measures, including public financing of campaigns, during his tenure in the State Senate. As a result, Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a good government group and the sister organization to Gotham Gazette's publisher, said he expects Paterson to be a proponent of campaign finance changes.
The fate of other reforms is more difficult to discern. "His position is less clear on redistricting reform," said Dadey. But he added that Paterson "more than anyone knows how dysfunctional the state has been. I would hope he would continue the reform."
Others are more skeptical. "While he's been many things in his quarter-century of public life, reformer isn't one of them," Fred Siegel and Harry Siegel wrote in the Sun.
In the coming months, Paterson and the people he appoints to his administration will face a broad range of issues of particular concern to New York City residents. Here are a few:
Congestion Pricing
If congestion pricing is to become a reality and the city is to get the millions in federal funds, the state legislature, along with the City Council, have until the end of the month to approve a plan to charge people to drive in Manhattan. Spitzer supported the idea, though some have described that backing as "tepid."
And Paterson? At his press conference Thursday, he said, "We're taking a look."
According to Streetsblog, which supports the congestion fees, people are divided as to whether the change in the governor's mansion will help or hurt the embattled plan.
Gotham Gazette will take a closer look at this issue in our March 24 Issue of the Week.
School Spending
In 2007, the legal battle over state funding for city schools seemed to come to an end as Spitzer announced changes in the funding formula and additional aid for New York City schools. But in the face of the budget deficit, he scaled back the increase for next year. This angered some education advocates as well as the Bloomberg administration.
City Councilmember Robert Jackson, chair of the education committee, said he hoped the money would be restored. "The children of New York City have been denied an adequate education for decades," Jackson said. "So the word is to David Paterson and to Shelly Silver and Joe Bruno keep the promise to the children of New York City."
Jackson said this might be more likely under Paterson than it would have been under Spitzer. In his press conference, Paterson cited improving an educational system downstate that has failed many children in New York City as one of his two top concerns. (The other was the upstate economy.)
In what could come as a surprise to people who see him as a kind of knee-jerk liberal, Paterson supports charter schools, schools that are privately run but publicly funded. In a 2006 interview, he said he favored lifting the cap on the number of such schools allowed in New York State. A pro-charter school group, Democrats for Education Reform, has scheduled a rally on Thursday to honor Paterson for "his early and strong support of education reform and charter schools."
Health Care
The issue of health care did not come up at Paterson's press conference, but he will have to deal with it. "Governor Spitzer had set in motion a broad examination of how to achieve universal health coverage, and while a concrete plan wasn't expected to pass this year, there was hope that the outlines of a plan would begin to emerge," Parrott said. The fate of that now remains anyone's guess.
Spitzer had also proposed expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program to cover children in families whose incomes are below 400 percent of poverty level, or nearly $83,000 a year for a family of four. (It currently covers families below 250 percent of poverty level.) The Bush administration had rejected the idea and Spitzer planned to use state funds to cover the costs. "The question reamins how you pay for it" in light of other spending priorities, Parrott said.
Development
A number of major development projects in the city remain at critical junctures: Moynihan Station, Hudson Yards, Atlantic Yards, Willets Point, the Javits Center Expansion and so on. The state plays a major role in many. Recently, for example, Spitzer proposed selling parcels of the land near the Javits Center, thereby scrapping plans for a substantially larger convention center. This brought sharp opposition from Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, among others.
It is unclear whether anyone knows Paterson's position on every individual mega project slated for the five boroughs -- or even whether he has a position -- but as soon as Spitzer resigned, if not before, the real estate industry began fretting that Paterson might not be as friendly to them as Spitzer had been.
Paterson "is an unknown quantity in real estate circles," Crain's wrote on Wednesday. "That's in sharp contrast to Gov. Spitzer, who was considered pro-development and a friend of the industry, and whose father is a wealthy real estate developer."
Some of the unease about Paterson in the development industry springs from his stated opposition in 2005 to using eminent domain -- the government seizing of private property -- for economic development projects. "He stood with me and proposed some legislation and I am very hopeful that the lieutenant governor and soon-to-be governor will honor his commitment and will either issue a moratorium or review the abuse of eminent domain across New York City," Letitia James, a City Councilmember and opponent of Atlantic Yards, said in an interview with the Sun.
People on the other side of the issue expressed hope that Paterson's new role might prompt him to change his mind. "I don't believe he has a built in prejudice against economic development or development. It is still premature to try to figure out what he is going to do, but he is somebody we have been able to work with for 20 years when he was in the state Senate," Steven Spinola, the president of the Real Estate Board of New York, has said.
Crime
Paterson has a fairly high profile position on issues related to crime and punishment. The bill restricting the use of deadly force by police officers would have overturned the city's current shoot-to-kill policy by requiring officers to try to wound a suspect. A spokeswoman for the governor told the Times that Paterson had introduced the measure, which was widely denounced by law enforcement, as a way of "restoring confidence in law enforcement at a time when confidence was very low.” Paterson has opposed the death penalty and was arrested for protesting outside police headquarters in 1999 following the shooting death of Amadou Diallo.
Paterson was also arrested outside then Gov. George Pataki's New York City office in 2002 for protesting the state's harsh Rockefeller drug laws. "David Paterson has supported meaningful change in the Rockefeller drug laws," said Robert Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association, which works on prison issues. "We are very hopeful that, unlike Spitzer, he will be outspoken now that he is chief executive."
In particular, the group wants to give judge's more discretion in sentencing drug offenders, letting them decide whether someone should be sent to prison or to a treatment program.
According to Gangi, while Spitzer supported a major overhaul during his 2006 gubernatorial campaign, "he did not address the issue in any significant way after he became governor."Regarding Paterson," Gangi continued, "if the positions he's taken over his political career are any indication, it's a higher priority for him."
Civil Rights
While Eliot Spitzer supported legalizing same-sex marriage, proponents of gay marriage said that the new governor might well be an even stronger ally than Spitzer had been. On the night the State Assembly voted to allow gay marriage in New York last year, Paterson "worked the floor... encouraging and cajoling Assembly members to support the bill and, importantly, making the crucial point that gay rights are fundamental civil rights," activist Ethan Geto told Gay City News.
In general, advocates hope that Paterson's experiences as an African-American and a person with a disability will lead him to reach out to various groups in the state and treat them with respect.
Of course, governing in New York is not only about budgets and passing laws, but also about politics and power. Boasting of being a steamroller, Spitzer vowed to exert control over the legislature and end Republican control of the State Senate, putting an end to the informal agreement in New York where the Democrats get the Assembly, the Republicans the Senate and the governor's job is up for grabs.
Weeks before Spitzer's resignation, he seemed tantalizingly close to achieving his goal. With their recent victory in a special election in an overwhelming Republican State Senate district upstate, the Democrats were only a seat away from capturing the Senate. Spitzer's resignation immediately restored the GOP edge: Since the position of lieutenant governor remains vacant, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno will be able to vote to break ties, meaning the Democrats now need two additional seats.
Some question whether Paterson will share Spitzer's zeal to defeat Republican senators. Paterson became minority leader in 2002, ousting State Senator Martin Connor of Brooklyn, largely on a pledge to challenge Republican dominance. But when asked Thursday about whether he would continue that fight, Paterson demurred, saying it was not the time to talk about it.
Of course, it is far too early to tell what effect the Spitzer scandal -- to say nothing of the ongoing federal investigation of Bruno -- will have on either parties' chances in November's legislative elections.
Like any political upheaval, Spitzer's sudden fall -- and Paterson's rise -- has fueled frenzied speculation. What will this mean for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid? (Both Paterson and Spitzer back her candidacy.) Will State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo run for governor in 2010? What about Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who unsuccessfully challenged Spitzer in 2006? And Bloomberg?
Here's a favorite one, for its sheer gaudiness if nothing else: Clinton will become president. Democrats will take the State Senate, making State Sen. Malcolm Smith of Queens next in line of succession to Paterson. Paterson will name himself senator to replace Clinton. And Smith will become governor.
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Following the Bloomberg administration's lead, the City Council approved a 4.3 percent cut in its operating budget for fiscal year 2009 in response to a looming budget deficit and trying fiscal times.
At its stated meeting Wednesday, the council also approved legislation requiring the parks department to prune trees that block intersections and a bill that requires the transportation department identify and work to improve the city's most dangerous intersections.
And in response to a veto threat from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the council reintroduced legislation requiring manufacturers recycle certain electronics, dividing the bill into two separate pieces of legislation so the mayor could sign elements he agrees with.
In just a handful of months, the Bloomberg administration has called for the city's departments and agencies to slash at their budgets not once, but twice. At the end of 2007, the mayor directed agencies to cut 2.7 percent from this fiscal year's budget and another 4.4 percent from next year's, which begins in July.
Earlier this month, he requested all city department's cut another 3 percent to address revenue shortfalls and a reduction in aid from the state. Now, as promised in her State of the City address, Council Speaker Christine Quinn is requiring the council reduce its operating budget by similar proportions.
The council's operating budget -- which covers its day-to-day costs including staffing for its central and district offices -- has been reduced by $2.3 million. The reduction is the most significant in the history of the modern City Council, said city officials. The budget was approved unanimously by a vote of 46 to 0.
The reductions, said Quinn, will be divided approximately between personnel services and other services. Staffing reductions are from attrition, she said.
"It would be wrong if we in the City Council didn't lead by example," said Quinn. "We are saying if we have to look at agencies in the eyes and tell nurses and teachers and social workers that they have to do more with less, we to the penny will do more with less."
Quinn said the cuts would not affect members' district offices, but instead its central staff, which is primarily the speaker's office. The City Council is the only city entity, which passes its budget before the administration comes out with its executive budget.
The City Council also unanimously approved legislation that requires the Department of Transportation identify and study locations with the mot traffic accidents and take action to remedy their conditions. The legislation was unanimously approved by a vote of 46 to 0.
The legislation (Intro 567), which was introduced by Councilmember Vincent Gentile, requires the department conduct annual safety audits of crash locations involving pedestrians, including those areas with the highest crash volumes or locations that have acquired a pattern of incidents. The analysis would be based on state data.
If found necessary following the analysis, the city would make appropriate traffic safety fixes within a 180-day period.
When Councilmember Jessica Lappin got into a minor car accident last summer, it was because a tree was blocking a traffic light. In response, the councilmember introduced legislation (Intro 674) that requires the Department of Parks and Recreation inspect and prune vegetation that blocks traffic signals or signs. The bill was approved unanimously.
"Drivers can't obey traffic signs and signals if they can't see them," said Lappin.
Tree pruning and replacement is the number one 311 call within the purview of the Department of Parks and Recreation, said Lappin.
Under the legislation, the department will have to inspect a site within four days of a complaint. If pruning or cutting is needed, the department must trim a tree within 10 days if it blocks stop, yield or do not enter signs as well as traffic signals. For other signs, the department will have 20 days.
To compromise with the administration, the City Council rescinded its previous e-waste legislation approved earlier this year and reintroduced two separate bills. The new measure splits the initial proposal in half - one bill (Intro 728) the administration favors, while the other (Intro 729) it opposes.(For more on electron recycling, play our Garbage Game.)
Quinn said this way the city could move forward and begin to implement part of the initial legislation, which mandates manufacturers come up with their own recycling plans.
"My administration and the council share the same goal of ensuring that thousands of tons of electronic waste are recycled instead of thrown into landfills, and we largely agree on how to achieve it," said Bloomberg in a prepared statement. "We are separating the issue into two bills so we can move forward on the broad areas where we have reached consensus, instead of letting our differences stop all progress."
The second bill, which is destined for the mayor's veto, has specific requirements, including benchmark percentages the manufacturers would have to meet and a fee structure. The standards would increase incrementally, eventually requiring a manufacture recycle 65 percent of its electronic merchandise, by weight, by 2018.
Bloomberg opposes the measure and says it is unconstitutional to require a manufacturer recycle when it is a wholesaler that sells it to the public. He has said he would not enforce the measure.
Quinn said she and the council would continue to work with the administration to see that the second bill would move forward. She would not say whether the council would take legal action against the administration to enforce it. Â