Bishop (D) takes 206-vote lead as count winds down

[usregimechange]

At the end of the fifth day of counting absentee ballots, Rep. Tim Bishop has pulled ahead of challenger Randy Altschuler by 206 votes, according to his spokesman Jon Schneider.

Schneider said 125 election districts, all in the Town of Brookhaven, remain to be counted. He said it looks like the count will be finished up by the end of the day tomorrow. Elections workers have 1,912 ballots left to count, Schneider said.

"We are very optimistic," Schneider said. "We've been counting absentee ballots for five days and Tim Bishop has been gaining votes for five days. Let's just make it a fifth." Elections workers have counted 9,200 absentee ballots to date, according to Schneider, who spoke to RiverheadLOCAL from the Yaphank headquarters of the Suffolk Board of Elections this evening.

Altschuler spokesman Rob Ryan said he did not have the day's final numbers yet, but last he heard the spread was in the 190s. He declined further comment pending confirmation of today's tally.

Schneider said to date, Altschuler has challenged 1,051 absentee ballots to Bishop's challenge of 714 ballots. How many of those ballots will ultimately be counted will be decided by a judge, according to elections officials.

http://www.riverheadlocal.com/local-news-content/1155-bishop-takes-206-vote-lead-as-count-winds-down

[gratuitous]

1. Another win for the good guys?

This would be welcome news.

[last_texas_dem]

2. Yea!

I've been watching this- one of the few undeclared races, according to the New York Times' website, as it's bounced back and forth between the two candidates.

This is good to hear, and I hope Bishop's lead holds.

[BeFree]

3. 9,200 ballots

In five days?
1840 ballots a day?
230 ballots an hour in an eight hour day?

Who the heck is doing the counting? One person?
All they need is two stacks of paper. Then count how many papers in each stack.

Why don't they have ten or twenty people stacking papers?

I know!! They want it to appear that hand counting takes too much time.
That way, the machines can be made to look so much better.

[TreasonousBastard]

4. It does take time. For those of you who have never actually hand counted ballots...

although you talk about it a lot-- the ballots can have up to a hundred positions on them, or more, with all the offices, candidates, and party lines. And, I'm not sure but I believe Brookhaven, where the last batch of ballots is from, had a few propositions, too.

This is not simply a recount for one office race. There are two very tight races to be decided out here, and there are other state and county offices aplenty that need the official count on those ballots.

But, even more interesting is that these are affidavit and absentee ballots and can be simply scanned like any other ballots and not hand counted anyway. They do, however, have to go through the challenge process where everybody's lawyers look for any possible way void the ballots they don't like. And they have to to be cross referenced to the voter rolls to see if affidavit voters are registered and make sure absentee voters haven't decided to drop in to the poll and vote in person.

So, yeah, it takes time to do it right.

[BeFree]

6. Good Job

You've made it appear the task of counting ballots is a giant clusterf*ck.

You did manage to point out the problems presented by the non-secret absentee cast ballots.
Absentee votes are NOT secret. An absentee voter can be tracked and identified.
And challenged.

[karynnj]

7. I think he made the process seem orderly, but time consuming and tedius

The very opposite of a mess.

[BeFree]

8. Tedious?

A few measly votes are made into a tedious operation?

They have roll books. They check off your name when you cast a ballot.

The final day of voting was 20 days ago, and they are not done yet? 20 days?
Something is seriously wrong.

[karynnj]

9. Do you think it fascinting?

I think his explanation was excellent and included many steps I would not have thought of. I think it is a lot better to slowly and methodically go through the process in this very close election. It might mean that the result is more likely to be accepted. The congressman won't take office until January - and though the ultimate winner is likely very anxious to know the results - I don't get YOUR urgency to know.

[BeFree]

10. eh?

This long drawn out 'Tedious" process is, imo, an attempt to make sure that the very idea
of hand counting is to be avoided. "It's hard work."

20 days and they have yet to count 9.200 votes.

Something about the system stinks. EH?

[TreasonousBastard]

11. And you've made it appear you know nothing about the mechanics of voting...

and one would wonder if you've ever even voted considering this abysmal lack of knowledge of how it all works.

It is not a clusterfuck, but it is designed to make an accurate and honest count. Perhaps you have suggestions for improvement?

Absentee ballots, the way we do them, have the voter's name and address on a sealed envelope that is mailed in another envelope. Before opening the sealed envelope the name is checked with the poll roster to make sure the voter didn't drop into the poll and vote. This takes a bit of time with all the poll rosters hanging around. Then the sealed envelopes are opened and the ballots, folded as they are, are mixed up by the election judges so no one knows whose ballot is whose. Of course someone could go through them one by one and match with the envelopes and names if they could get away with it, but there are enough eyes on the pile so that doesn't happen. And what would be the big deal if it did, anyway if the voters are counted properly? Is someone going around beating up people who didn't vote the right way?

The challenge to an absentee voter, if any, is exactly the same as any other voter-- it's based on the identity and registration of the voter and the ballot is not viewed by anyone before, during, or after the challenge.

As the the time it's taken to count these things, the count doesn't start until the deadline for the ballots to be in, which is not the night of the election. The deadline for mailing is the day before the election, so they give it at least a week for all of them to get in, and military ballots even more time because the APO sucks more than the Post Office.

That's the last I have to say about this because now you're really annoying me.

[BeFree]

13. Interesting

The OP states:
"Altschuler has challenged 1,051 absentee ballots to Bishop's challenge of 714 ballots. "

So there are a total of 1,765 ballots challenged.
Does that mean that many ballots are possible criminal violations?
And none of those ballots are to be opened until challenges are settled?

Interesting too, that, as you said, these ballots can be run thru the machine.
So, there is no real handcount taking place? Or is there? You've managed to confuse the situation.
Look forward to seeing some clarifications...Thanks.

[Hello_Kitty]

12. I don't know how it's done in NY but that's not the case here in AZ.

Your information and signature are on the outer envelope and the ballot inside is anonymous. By the time it gets to the machine or the hand counter no one knows who it is.

[mvd]

5. K&R

We need every win we can get.