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Melinda Katz Declares Victory in Queens DA Primary As Election Saga Continues

Melinda Katz casting her vote in the June 25 election. (Melinda Katz)

July 4, 2019 By Christian Murray

Melinda Katz has declared victory in the Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney, following the manual recount on Wednesday of thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots.

The margin of victory over Tiffany Cabán was 20 votes, according to several well-placed sources. The City was the first publication to attribute the razor-thin margin to the Board of Elections.

The vote differential, however, is so slim that it will result in an automatic manual recount of all 80,000-plus ballots cast. A margin of victory below 450 votes (0.5 percent) triggers such a recount.

“We said from the beginning that every vote needs to be counted and that every voter needs to be heard and now we see clearly why this must always be the case,” Katz said in a statement. “I am proud to have been chosen as the Democratic nominee for Queens District Attorney.”

Katz anticipates a tough battle ahead before the election results are certified, expected to be done by mid July.

“We know that these numbers can and will be subject to the recount, and there may be legal challenges, but what matters most is the will of Queens voters….This is Democracy.”

Many Cabán supporters were stunned by the change of events. Cabán started the day 1,199 votes ahead of Katz only for the lead to vanish. They questioned the integrity of the BOE, which has a reputation of being staffed by party loyalists.

When Cabán declared victory on June 25, her supporters were convinced the results would hold, since they knew that Katz needed to win an overwhelming majority of the 6,300 absentee and affidavit ballots that had to be counted. Additionally, there were six candidates vying for the votes.

Yesterday’s count was controversial, since the BOE ruled out about 2,000 affidavit ballots. They were reportedly deemed invalid for a variety of reasons, including the ballot being mailed too late, the form being filled out incorrectly or the voter not being a registered Democrat.

The Cabán team plans to review the ballots to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Her team remains confident that she will prevail.

“Queens voters are inspired by Tiffany Cabán’s campaign and her vision for real criminal justice reform. If every paper ballot vote is counted, we are confident we will prevail.”

The winner is expected to face GOP nominee Daniel Kogan in November.

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19 Comments

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jb

I’ll be voting Republican (though I’m a democrat).
Caban’s “progressive” voice is, I believe, far right, and will help prostitution rings thrive. As will crime, which will give developers their dream of driving business and the middle class out of Queens.
Katz, on the other hand, has done irrevocable harm by neglecting her duties as borough pres, to focus on pandering to low income folk. And later, she will drop her DA duties to run for Mayor. Taking money from developers didn’t endear her to former supporters.

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Harry Bingham IV

Lasak on Republican and Independence lines if Caban takes the count! Let’s go!

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Katz won? Get over it...?

So now that we count all of the votes and Katz wins, Caban wants the 2,000 votes from unregistered democrats to count too? Oh, and based on other comments they don’t feel like senior citizens should have a vote either!? Questioning senior center & nursing home votes. I guess now it’s time to say it the other way around: Katz won, get over it! (I don’t agree with that, but just saying)

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No, you're completely wrong.

> Caban wants the 2,000 votes from unregistered democrats to count

From the article: “They were reportedly deemed invalid for a VARIETY OF REASONS, including the ballot being mailed too late, the form being filled out incorrectly or the voter not being a registered Democrat” and “the Cabán team plans to review the ballots to make sure every eligible vote is counted.” To learn more, scroll up.

> they don’t feel like senior citizens should have a vote either

They do, you’re completely wrong. They are fighting to review MORE absentee ballots, which are primary senior citizens. Oops!

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Caban voters accept only what they want to hear

Cherry picking the ballots that Caban wants is different from counting the other ballots. And stop coming here to spread hypocritical statements. The comment was in reference to past ones where Caban declared victory before the votes were counted. The. When they were, she tried to claim that the ballots were now wrong. There were multiple comments and articles posted implying that there was fraud at nursing homes (tweets verified as bots) — it’s the time. It’s always “right” with you folks unless it goes against what Canan’s agenda. Most people in queens don’t want Caban: Fact. Most Democrats in Queens don’t want Caban: Fact. Is this democracy or not? I hope this goes to a general election with both candidates in the running so we can see what the majority really wants.

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I agree, you were completely wrong

Thanks for not even trying to address what I said. You can scroll up if you want some facts.

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Please run contested in the general election

Ha! So Caban is looking for every eligible vote that is not in her favor too!? I am reading your points, they are just very biased and always in support of Caban. Fact: Both Caban and Katz have razor thing margins. You’re arguing for democracy when the fact is that both Caban and Katz are playing stupid little games to try and take advantage of the loophole that is the NY closed democratic primary. At the end of the day, 80k people are deciding the DA to represent 2.4 million people. I hope that we’ll see these two run off in the general election. That way we can actually have a sense of who Queens wants to see as their next DA. In all of your “facts” you’re missing the one about an insignificant number of people deciding who the next democrat is that will run (likely virtually uncontested) in the general election. I hope it is contested.

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no one's reading that wall of text

Not sure what that ramble was about, but you STILL haven’t addressed a single point:

>> Caban wants the 2,000 votes from unregistered democrats to count

They were reportedly deemed invalid for a VARIETY OF REASONS, including the ballot being mailed too late, the form being filled out incorrectly or the voter not being a registered Democrat. You’re completely wrong

> they don’t feel like senior citizens should have a vote either

They are fighting to review MORE absentee ballots, which are primary senior citizens. You’re completely wrong.

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Progressive progress...

I love how the 1 or 2 people from LIC Coalition keep giving thumbs down over and over again for anything against Caban. But funnier is when the same few people give thumbs down to posts that encourage a contested general election. So the same people who want to “shake things up” balk at the idea of an actual majority of people deciding the outcome of our next DA? I get it, it’s the progressive Illuminati that knows best, it shouldn’t matter what the rest of us think. I’m so glad you know what’s best for the rest of us. Or are you just happy that you finally figured out the same loophole that incumbent democrats have been using for years? Congratulations! Maybe try to actually change something though. Or just keep drumming up divisiveness via razor thin margins and controversy. I hear it’s a great way to get to consensus and make progress.

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MRLIC

I hope the Vote stands as Caban did not want to prosecute anyone. Why would we need her? She will put more criminals on the street. DeBlasio’s NYC Soft on Crime. Idiot Radical left wing losers. Wake up New Yorkers who did not vote in the primary get out and vote before more left wing losers try and hijack your Dem party. Left wing Dems you will not like (AOC?) if they keep winning if no one votes against them.

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Wow, you're REALLY wrong

>Caban did not want to prosecute anyone

That is completely false.

>She will put more criminals on the street.

That is completely false.

>DeBlasio’s NYC Soft on Crime

You don’t really understand capitalization. I learned it in kindergarten…

> Idiot Radical left wing losers

Are you Trump? Try to act like an adult and maybe someone would take you seriously

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Can’t have it both ways

So it’s ok for Caban insurgent voters to show up and sign an affidavit? That’s what happens when you go out and push random people to go vote in a closed primary without giving them proper information. Is this where the “tale over the Democratic Party” fails? If those 2,000 votes supposedly count the there should be a new vote so that any independent can vote on the primary. You can’t have it both ways.

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MRLIC

I hope the count is right and Caban counted her chickens too early. She did not want to prosecute anyone .Why would we need a prosecutor who doesn’t prosecute? This would also be a blow to AOC and the idiotic working families party, who masquerade as they are for working people. In reality they are Progressive Socialists and all for Illegals. AOC would be MAD her buddy did not get in. Go Melinda Katz.

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huh?

>She did not want to prosecute anyone

That is completely false.

>who masquerade as they are for working people

You literally voted for a billionaire celebrity game show host. Now you’re pretending you care about “working people?” You have no integrity.

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Gardens Watcher

Earlier in the day before the final vote was tallied, the Queens Eagle reported that “Cabán’s campaign has called people who submitted affidavits to find out who they voted for.” Plus their lawsuit insists that each Paper Ballot AND the accompanying envelope be photocopied.

What’s up with that? Seems like an Outrageous invasion of privacy!

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Anonymous

I hope Katz wins. This combo of JVB, AOC and Gianaris scares the hell out of me in general and the last thing we need is another activist with little experience joining forces with these frauds. Get them out of here.

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