Well, it looks a bit like Diane’s got a better case this time: the eight districts inexplicably left off the original count have apparently broken for Wilkerson. Thus spake the Mayah’s office (via Kim):
The unofficial count of the eight remaining precincts by the citys Elections Department this afternoon showed that incumbent Senator Dianne Wilkerson won the Second Suffolk Senatorial race. Wilkerson had an additional 946 votes to challenger Sonia Chang-Diazs 385 in the eight uncounted precincts, bringing the unofficial total of votes to Wilkerson 6,395 to Chang-Diazs 5,703.
Chang-Diaz refuses to concede — and why would you, when the election has been a dog’s breakfast like this? She’s “consulting with her legal team.” Well hey, at least Bonifaz is on the case …
Doesn’t anyone here know how to do this election thing?
The entire process is tainted, but worse than what we all saw on Tuesday night. The ballot scanners automatically sort out “sticker” ballots from ballots that supposedly don’t have stickers which then go into separate piles. Only the sticker pile is actually counted in the field, while the non-sticker pile is assumed to be correctly sorted by machine. Not so. Chang-Diaz shouldn’t seek a citywide recount. She should seek only a recount in the wards where she did better than Dianne. Of all ballots. Be surprised if she doesn’t close the gap this way in a recount.
even if it means that “our side” loses. A victory that results from a strategic, selective recount won’t look very democratic to anyone.