Adriano Espaillat (AP)
Charles Rangel (Reuters)
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Rep. Charles Rangel increased his thin lead over stubborn challenger Adriano Espaillat yesterday as the Board of Elections began counting about 2,000 paper ballots to determine the winner of the city’s fiercely contested congressional primary.
Out of some 40,000 votes cast, Rangel was ahead by 945 — a net gain of 143 for the day. The count was expected to continue through tomorrow.
Veteran-political consultant Jerry Skurnik said the latest results made it hard to see how Espaillat could emerge on top.
“I thought it was extremely unlikely he could overcome an 802-vote margin before,” said Skurnik. “This obviously makes it more unlikely.”
Supporters of the upper Manhattan state senator began initiating Plan B, circulating nominating petitions so he could round up enough signatures before Thursday’s deadline to run again for his current seat in September.
“Because you have two consecutive primaries this year, it kind of forces the hand of the candidate,” explained Al Kurland, of the Barack Obama Democratic Club, which is backing Espaillat. “He has to be prepared in case he loses the first primary to circulate petitions in the second.”
Espaillat’s return as a state Senate candidate would pose a major problem for Assemblyman Guillermo Linares, a fellow Dominican who has vowed to run for his seat.
Meanwhile, Bronx Supreme Court Justice John Carter ordered that all mail ballots and precinct-tally sheets from Rangel and Espaillat’s 13th Congressional District primary on June 26 be preserved and photocopied for another hearing on Wednesday.
He agreed to review the claims in Espaillat’s suit after the board completes its count.
“I live in the district and vote,” the judge announced. Neither side asked him to step aside.
Leo Glickman, Espaillat’s lawyer, said he has evidence of voters being improperly denied a ballot at their precincts.
“We have identified many instances where people were turned away from the polls and treated with hostile conduct by the poll workers,” Glickman charged.
Lawyers for both the city’s Board of Elections and Rangel said that was all just talk.
“They made serious allegations of fraud when there’s no evidence of fraud,” said Arthur Greig, Rangel’s lawyer.
Meanwhile, State Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn) announced that he and Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) would introduce legislation authorizing the elections board to remove memory cards from voting machines so they could be used to speed up the count on election night.
Additional reporting by David Seifman