You might remember Ny-25 as one of the stops on my pre-election road trip. Well strange things seem to be going on over there.
The first strange thing is the absence of media attention, apparently this is a request from the Maffei campaign that has apparently not fallen on deaf ears:
any vote totals reported before every absentee ballot is counted are grossly incomplete and premature, particularly before ballots in Onondaga County are counted…While the media has responsibility to report the daily developments during the recanvass and tallying of absentee ballots, they also have a responsibility to characterize the early steps in this process accordingly.
Please please please reporters don’t report on the count at this time.
And what is going on that they don’t want reported on? Stuff like this:.
While the reasons for this effort are unclear, many agree it could be an attempt by some to identify who each person voted for in an effort to disqualify certain eligible ballots from being counted,” Buerkle said. “I would like the public to know that my campaign is not connected to this current effort. Further, no American — in upstate New York or anywhere — is in anyway under obligation to provide information to anyone on how he or she voted in any election, including my own.”
Buerkle’s statement did not name Maffei’s campaign as the party responsible for the calls, but a spokeswoman for the Maffei campaign confirmed they are calling voters in the district.
Maffei campaign communications director Abigail Gardner said Monday that while she believes they are asking how people voted, the reason for the calls is to ensure all votes are counted.
“It’s totally legal and there’s nothing really shady about it,” Gardner said. “I think we are asking how people voted, but the most important thing is to make sure that, if somebody cast a vote, that it’s going to be counted. There have been some problems.”emphasis mine
I think we are asking how people voted? I think! You don’t know?
Sure a campaign trying to play with the secret ballot? Nothing shady about that at all. Ann Marie Burkle’s campaign put out this statement:
Buerkle calls on voters who are contacted to ask who is calling and not feel that they must reveal how they voted.
“If anyone is contacted in this effort please know that your vote is privileged and under no circumstances should an individual be pressured into revealing how their vote was cast,” she said. “If you are contacted, ask them to provide their full name, for whom they work, why they are seeking this information and if you are required to provide this information.”
I’ve been wondering why this recount hasn’t gotten the attention others like NY-1 have. As the Maffei campaign lawyers up and activists start heading up to the area to try to salvage a seat from the big red wave, I guess we know why.
More to come.
Update: Looks like that count is heading in the right direction
The difference means that Buerkle has now widened her overall lead in the four-county district to 729 votes, according to unofficial election returns.
Buerkle picked up a net gain of 24 votes in Cayuga County (59 to 35 over Maffei) from absentee ballots, according to Cayuga County Election Commissioner Kate Lacey. Buerkle also had a net gain of 18 votes in Monroe County (630 to 612 over Maffei) after absentee ballots were opened from its three towns in the district, according to figures supplied by both campaigns.
By my calculations Maffei needs to win the Absentees in Onondaga county by twice the spread that he won the vote of to come out ahead, that’s not even counting any spread in Wayne county. I think it’s looking good.
Update 2: Added missing link
