Judge Sets Schedule for Counting Votes in Disputed Races

A New York State Supreme Court judge established a tentative timeline Wednesday for counting the votes in the disputed elections for the 89th Assembly District and the 37th State Senate District.

Justice Les Adler made the ruling after meeting with attorneys who were present on behalf of the Assembly candidates (Republican incumbent Bob Castelli and Democrat Thomas Roach) and state Senate candidates (Democratic incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer and Republican Bob Cohen). Castelli's office announced the decision, and it was subsequently confirmed by Tajian Jones, assistant to Reginald LaFayette, the Democratic Westchester County Board of Elections commissioner, and Nancy Meehan, the deputy Republican commissioner.

Electronic counting took place Wednesday of ballots from "Plan B" machines, or machines that are accessible for the handicapped.

According to Castelli's campaign, preliminary and unoffical results from the handicapped ballots show that, out of 951 Plan B ballots cast, Robert Castelli received 495 votes to 456 for Thomas Roach, which brings Castelli's overall lead to +111 votes out of some 38,774 votes cast.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the State Senate Democrats, said that Oppenheimer's lead now stands at 626 votes over Cohen after a counting was done of Ballot Marking Devices. She gained 112 votes from Wednesday's counting, he said.

Nothing will be confirmed by the Board of Elections until today. The county's most recent public figures show that, with 100 percent of the county's election districts in, unofficial results from the board show Oppenheimer leading Cohen by just over 500 votes, or 40,527 to 40,023. The board shows Castelli leading Roach by an even narrower margin of 72 votes, or 18,996 to 18,924.

A tentative date of Nov. 23 for counting absentee and affadavit ballots has been set, according to Meehan.

In addition, on Nov. 24 the Board of Elections will conduct a "three-percent audit," or a random hand count of machines in the county.