Padavan vs. Gennaro race a ‘cliffhanger’

Despite what a high ranking Queens County Republican official called an “Obama tsunami,” the contest between 18-term incumbent Senator Frank Padavan and City Councilmember James Gennaro is considered too close to call.
With all 232 precincts in the 11th Senate District reporting shortly before midnight, the initial voting machine tally had Padavan leading by a mere 747 votes out of nearly 83,000 machine votes cast.
The virtual 50-50 split may leave the decision to absentee, emergency and provisional ballots.
One voting machine in Whitestone broke down during the day and, in the more than three hours until it was repaired, “hundreds” of voters had to file emergency paper ballots, according to a Republican official.
“It will be a long, drawn out process,” said Vincent Tabone, executive director of the Queens Republican organization. “We will file a motion in the morning, asking the court to order the voting machines impounded, to insure that every vote is accurately counted,” he said, adding, “I don’t doubt that the other side will do the same.”
A source close to the Gennaro campaign said that it was “likely” that would happen.
Tabone expressed confidence that “Despite the fact that President-elect Obama easily carried every precinct in Senator Padavan’s district, because of his hard work, he will be returned to office.”
Gennaro spent the waning moments of Election Day at a packed Democratic “victory party” in Bayside, just blocks from Padavan’s campaign headquarters.
As he greeted late arrivals hoping to hear of a Democratic sweep of city races with “it’s a cliffhanger.”
As the cheering party faithful and elected officials — including Senator Toby Stavisky, a landslide-winner, and City Councilmembers Peter Vallone and David Weprin — basked in the glow of Obama’s victory speech on a large TV over Gennaro’s head, he expressed confidence that he would prevail.
“Not a lot of people believed we could pull this campaign out,” he told The Courier. “I believe that the paper ballots, when counted, will complete this great upset victory,” he said.
The vote counts for each ballot are recorded on a sheet of paper in the back of each voting machine. Board of Elections (BOE) workers place these sheets in a locked pouch.
The pouches are given to the police officers at the polling places, who bring them to their precinct, where they are phoned in to BOE headquarters in Manhattan.
Any emergency ballots or “provisional” ballots - from voters whose qualifications were challenged by poll watchers - are locked in a compartment in the voting machine.
As soon as this process is completed, the machines are returned to the warehouse by BOE employees, where the machine counts may be “canvassed” or verified, and the paper ballots counted, if there is any possibility that they could affect the outcome.
If the court has issued an impound order, and set Wednesday, November 12 at 10 a.m. for the canvass and paper ballot count - which could take days.
Until then, the machines will be kept under lock and key and guarded 24 hours a day by BOE employees who are drawn equally from both parties.
The entire process takes place under the watchful eye of party representatives.
When all this is completed, candidates can still ask for a recount and challenge individual paper ballots before a judge - a process that can take days or even weeks more.
In the words of the challenger, “Stay tuned.”