Como holds slim lead over Crowley

Republican Anthony Como holds a slim 70-vote lead over Democrat Elizabeth Crowley with all of the precincts reporting in the 30th City Council District special election race to replace disgraced former Councilmember Dennis Gallagher.
However, the city’s Board of Elections (BOE) must still tally at least 196 outstanding absentee votes, so an official certification is still likely more than a week away, according to a BOE spokesperson.
“I’m confident the [absentee] vote will follow the trend of the machine vote,” Como said late Tuesday night after the BOE had released the unofficial results.
Como received 2,352 votes while Crowley garnered 2,282 votes – a 1 percent difference in vote totals, according to unofficial results from the BOE. In addition to counting the absentee ballots, the BOE will bring in all of the voting machines for inspection – a process that could finish by Friday, June 6.
A source close to the Crowley campaign, said that it’s possible that the absentee ballots could swing the margin in her favor, but it’s too early to tell if that will be the case. The source also said that the campaign was waiting to see the official results before speculating on her political future.
In addition to Como and Crowley, former City Councilmember Tom Ognibene and Ridgewood civic activist Charles Ober campaigned vigorously as voters went to the polls to cast their ballots on Tuesday, June 3. Ognibene received 2,031 votes while Ober received 752 votes.
After Gallagher resigned, Queens Republicans hoped to hold onto their only council seat in the borough, and the Queens County Republican Party backed Como over Ognibene for the seat.
Como, who started his political career as an aide to State Senator Serphin Maltese, has served as a prosecutor in the Queens District Attorney’s Office, counsel to Maltese and most recently a Commissioner for the Queens Office of Board of Elections, before he resigned his position to concentrate fully on the June special election.
A lifelong Queens resident who currently lives in Middle Village, Como has been actively involved in many community and civic organizations including serving on the board of directors of the Peter Cardella Senior Center in Ridgewood, a member of the Glendale and Middle Village Property Owners, the Middle Village/Maspeth Civic Association and a number of other community groups.
“I look forward to working tirelessly for the people of Queens,” Como said Tuesday night.
Once an official winner is declared, that person will serve until November of this year when another election will be held to decide who will serve the remainder of Gallagher’s term.