Judge: Give Mantello access to '13 ballots

 

MANTELLO

      After nine months, Council candidate Carmella Mantello will get a look at the ballots in her bid for At Large seat.

 

Supreme Court Judge Raymond Elliott signed the document ordering the Board of Elections to turn over all paper ballots cast and accepted and all voided ballots in the November 2013 election.

“This Troy City Council at large election was extremely close, and the people of Troy deserve an answer as to the true and actual outcome of the election,” Mantello said of the race she lost by 65 votes.

Mantello has filed a number of FOIL requests, got a favorable opinion from the state Committee on Open Government and even politely asked commissioners if she could have a gander at the ballots.

Elliott noted that Commissioners Ed McDonough and Larry Bugbee, a Democrat and Republican respectively, never refused the ballots but said they needed a court order to turn them over. 

According to Mantello, the BOE opposed her efforts to get a recount even though the range of her defeat fluctuated between 17 and 65 votes of several thousand cast.  

One irregularity, Mantello said, was at the Knickerbacker Ice Rink in Council District 2, where unofficial results were not posted on the BOE website until 11:30, some 90 minutes after the rest of the districts were posted.

Mantello came in fourth in the race for three At Large seats on the city Council. Democrat Lynn Kopka came in third, 65 votes ahead of Mantello. Democrat Rodney Wiltshire got the most votes of any At Large candidate and is now president. Councilwoman Erin Sullivan-Teta, a Democrat in her first run at office, came in second.

Elliot granted the BOE’s request to allow Mantello access for two hours per day with exemptions made during the time the office is busy with the primary on Sept. 9 and the general election on Nov. 4.

Mantello Decision and Order

BOE commissioners rule on objections; Wiltshire vs. Wade still on in September

The petitions nominating 14 candidates to the Democratic Party Committee from one side of the interparty battle were tossed out after commissioners at the Board of Elections ruled on specific objections and four candidates suffered the same fate on the other side.

WADE

There are still a slew of primaries in the City of Troy between those loyal to Democratic Party Chairman Tom Wade and those siding with Council President Rodney Wiltshire. The pro-Wade faction filed petitions for two committee members in all 30 Election Districts, while the Wiltshire team filed in two each in 26. So that means there will be primaries in at least 19 EDs.

Committee battles are rare and when they do occur it’s largely an inside baseball game. But, this war stands out because Wiltshire is going head-to-head against Wade in ED 8. Their running mates are Rev. Tim Sherman 
and Rebecca Sweeney, respectively.

Neither Wade nor Wiltshire will suffer on the surface should they lose the primary but the ancillary ramifications are very real.

For example, two years ago Wade, with relative ease, survived coup attempt at his chairmanship and while being a committee member is not a requisite of being chair, it’s a harder sell if he can’t hold onto his own seat.

WILTSHIRE

Not being on the committee doesn’t disqualify Wiltshire of running for any office – Council or mayor – but he did pick a fight with Wade and by extension a good many on the committee who generally are called upon to do the grunt work of any campaign. Also, the same could be said of him should he end up on the losing end of the primary that will be decided by less than 50 voters: “How can you vote for him when he couldn’t even win a committee seat.”

In a very real sense, since the primaries are largely confined to the City of Troy and likely won't impact the county committee configuration, the battle for the committee comes down to a grudge match between Wiltshire and Wade. And as far as inside baseball goes, it doesn’t get too much more fun than a sitting Council president taking on the sitting county chairman of the same party.

Anyway, the petitions that were disqualified by Commissioners Ed McDonough and Larry Bugbee, a Democrat and Republican, respectively, are as follows:

On behalf of the Wiltshire camp

-In ED 17, Michael LoPorto and William Dunne were disqualified based on an objection by Ethan Wolfson. Not only is it pretty funny that the two longtime enemies are running on the same ticket, but that the two veteran politicians couldn’t even follow through and get petitions in the proper way – it’s not rocket science, but there are certain rules that must be followed. I’m told the petitions were disqualified because the two candidates witnessed their own signatures.

-In ED 7, Catherine Conroy and Linda Meissner were disqualified on behalf of an objection by Robert Martiniano. Conroy is a Rensselaer County Committee vice chairman.

On behalf of the Wade camp

-In ED 1, Alfred Cussick and Tiffany Klimek were disqualified based on an objection by Suzanne Scales.

-In ED 2, Tina Turner and Diane Turner were disqualified by an objection by Timothy McDonough.

-In ED 4, Tanya Grant and Michael Grant were disqualified by objection by John Manupella.

-In ED 7, Robert Martiniano and Michael Rinaldi were disqualified by an objection by Catherine Conroy.

-In ED 10, Alexander Briggs and Tristen Wood were disqualified by an objection by Charlena Keels.

-In ED 12, William Campana and Chris Jackson were disqualified by an objection by Michael Barrett

-ED 15 Ronald Tinkler and Noel Hale were disqualified by an objection by Timothy Steele

Individual objections varied, but were largely either the signee previously signing another petition and general incorrect information such as witnesses living outside the county or other municipalities but put Rensselaer County or Troy as their address.

Time for the board to cough up the records (DOCUMENTS)

MANTELLO

It’s been six months since the polls closed, but a candidate for Troy City Council is still looking for a definitive answer to the outcome of the election.

Carmella Mantello, who ran for an At Large seat last November, filed an Article 78 (see below) in state Supreme Court demanding the Rensselaer County Board of Elections cough up the backup, paper records of votes that were cast on electronic voting machines.

Mantello, who lost to Councilwoman Lynn Kokpa by some 60 votes, doesn’t think any review of the paper records will change the ultimate outcome of the race, but thinks she, like any candidate for office, should have the right to review the results.

In this case, she has reason. According to emails Mantello got through using the state Freedom of Information Act, there were problems with the machines and the board and the vendor were trying to work them out as late as Oct. 9, 2013. Yet, the Board of Election used the new machines anyway despite ongoing issues with the way they scanned the paper ballots.

See emails from Board of Elections employee Kevin O’Malley and Mike Nicholas, a representative from Dominion Voting by clicking here.

Previously, Board of Elections Commissioners Ed McDonough and Larry Bugbee, a Democrat and Republican respectively, said they would turn over the paper records but only if Mantello filed what they called the necessary paperwork in court.

She jumped through the hoops. So now it’s up to the board to not only stand by its word but follow through with what should be little more than common courtesy to anyone who sticks their neck out and runs for public office – full and unfettered access to the ballots.

The board has until May 29 to respond to the Article 78. As I said, I don’t think it can change anything, but Mantello certainly has the right to know as does the public.

 

Mantello Article 78

The cost of public information: $2,500

MANTELLO

Turns out former Troy Council candidate Carmella Mantello can get an electronic copy of last fall’s election – for a paltry sum of $2,500.

(A letter from the Rensselaer County BOE commissioners to Mantello, and a letter from Mantello to County Executive Kathy Jimino can be seen below)

According to a letter signed by Rensselaer County Board of Elections Commissioners Ed McDonough and Larry Bugbee, the data Mantello requested from the nail-biter of an election was handed over to a vendor, Dominion Voting, which provided technical support to the BOE.

“This presents you with two options to access the information you requested: Retrieval of the electronic data via the county’s BOE technology support vendor, or obtaining the legally required court order, with no opposition from the county BOE, to allow for review of the paper ballots,” said the letter from the BOE.

According to the invoice from Dominion, the process to extract the images is “complicated” and would take 10 hours at $250 an hour.

Why the BOE did not keep a copy of the images, as Mantello said the 2010 Help America Vote Act requires, is anyone’s guess. And why it would take 10 hours at $250 an hour to burn the images on a CD is another guess. Seems to me - and the Times Union editorial writers - the information should not only be readily available at the BOE, but made available on its website to save people the trip should they want to look at the results.

MCDONOUGH and BUGBEE

Mantello, who came up short in her bid for an At Large Council seat by 65 votes, has been rattling trees from local officials to the state Attorney General. She recently received an opinion from Bob Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, which backed up her claim the electronic ballot images should be a public document. I’m not an attorney, but that seems like a no-brainer to me.

“The Board has an obligation to maintain these images so they are readily accessible for any member of the public, and not create the situation where it would cost an individual some $2,500 for this information,” Mantello wrote to County Executive Kathy Jimino. “This is clearly an attempt to hide this information from the public and not have the information readily available. “It would appear that there's an ongoing conspiracy at the County Board of Elections to conceal public information which should not be allowed to continue any further.”

The BOE in Putnam County was withholding similar information from a candidate down there but ended up giving it up as required by law.

As I previously wrote, I can see McDonough giving Mantello a hard time since he’s a Democrat and well, that’s just the way the game is played sometimes. But Bugbee – a Republican who Mantello states testified in court against allowing her to see the paper ballots – should help out a member of his own party despite who likes her or who doesn’t.

Another question that comes to mind is what is the BOE hiding and why don't they want Mantello to see the ballots?

BOE Letter

Dear County Executive Jimino, 

I received an email from you today, dated March 18, 2014, stating that 

you just spoke with the Chairman of the Legislature, Martin Reid, who informed you that the Board of Elections provided the information I was seeking in electronic format last week. 

Unfortunately, the information you were provided by the Chairman of the 

Legislature is incorrect. 

Subsequent to your email, I contacted Larry Bugbee, Republican Commissioner of Elections at the Rensselaer County Board. Per my request, Commissioner Bugbee emailed me the attached correspondence dated March 14, 2014 since it was only hard copy mailed. It is quite clear in the attached letter that the Rensselaer County Board of Elections has not provided me a copy of the electronic ballot images. 

I'm sure you are aware since 2010 the Help America Vote Act requires Boards of Elections to keep the digital images and a backup of these images as a record in any given election. Robert Freeman, Exec Director of the Comm on Open Government, has rendered an opinion that these images are available under a FOIL. It should be noted that I have been constructively denied this information for several months. 

Upon reading the letter I received today from the County Board of Elections it is obvious they continue to stonewall my efforts to receive the digital images which should be made available to me forthwith under the FOIL. 

The Board has an obligation to maintain these images so they are readily 

accessible for any member of the public, and not create the situation where it would cost an individual some $2500 for this information. This is clearly an attempt to hide this information from the public and not have the information readily available. I would submit county officials comply with the law, have it readily available, and send me the information request immediately as other counties, such as Putnam County recently did. It would appear that there's an ongoing conspiracy at the County Board of Elections to conceal public information which should not be allowed to continue any further. 

It should also be noted that Commissioner Bugbee gives the impression that my 

representative was given the opportunity to review any and all paper ballots. 

The only review of any paper ballots was during a random audit of 2 election 

districts and not a review of all paper ballots. In fact my request for review of all the paper ballots has been continually denied. In the correspondence Mr. Bugbee now states the board would not oppose a court ordered recount of the paper ballots. However, when I went to court and sought a recount in November, prior to the results being certified, Mr. Bugbee testified in opposition to my efforts. 

Carmella Mantello 

Committee on Open Government: Give Mantello access to ballots (DOCUMENTS)

MANTELLO

In an five-page opinion, the state Committee on Open Government said former Troy Council candidate Carmella Mantello can look at the 2013 election results secured at the Rensselaer County Board of Elections.

Mantello had questioned the razor-thin results of her At Large bid last year but the third and final spot went to Lynn Kopka by 65 votes out of nearly 7,000 cast after the absentee ballots were counted and a judge denied Mantello’s request for a recount.

Since, Mantello has maintained there were abnormalities in some Election Districts and wanted to conduct a manual recount herself but was, inexplicitly, denied access to the ballots by Rensselaer County Commissioners Ed McDonough, a Democrat, and his Republican counterpart Larry Bugbee.

She did request the ballots under the state Freedom of Information Law but it too was denied. The Committee on Open Government, however, said access to ballots did fall under the FOIL statute and while it’s only an opinion, said she should have access.

 “In sum, based on the preceding analysis, I agree with your contention that “the electronic ballot images and cast vote records created by the ballot scanners used to conduct our elections” are accessible to the public pursuant to FOIL and in accordance with subdivisions (1) and (3) of the Election Law,” said the letter written by Bob Freeman, executive director of the Committee on Open Government and the state’s well-respected FOIL guru.

The committee’s decision and Mantello’s statement can be read below.

There are the facts as they stand now. Here are some questions and observations that immediately come to mind:

-While I don’t agree keeping any ballots from public inspection, especially from candidates who ran for office, I can see why McDonough would deny her access since he is a Democrat and Mantello is a Republican.

-But, why would Bugbee, a Republican, sign off on not granting her access? Here’s why: Some in the GOP don’t like Mantello. Plain and simple. And Bugbee takes his marching orders from those same operatives. It’s one thing not to like a candidate but part of Bugbee’s job, in addition to ensuring elections run fairly and properly, is to help Republican candidates and protect their interests whoever they are. McDonough does the same thing for Democrats – that’s why there is one commissioner of each party.

-Regardless of the public – and at least one time physical – confrontation between Bugbee and former commissioner Tom Wade, who is now the Rensselaer County Democratic Party chairman, they at least kept an eye on each other. Bugbee and Wade have too cozy a relationship in that they can easily turn a blind eye towards each other’s activities – like minor party ballots – or turn go so far as back each other up in the Mantello case. (Notice I didn’t mention voter fraud because Bugbee told other operatives about the inordinate number of Working Families Party absentee ballots that came in at the last minute but if they trickled in as they have in years past the two commissioners would likely have let each other’s party get away with whatever they wanted to get away with.)

-What happens now is anyone’s guess. If Mantello does get her hands on the ballots and has evidence she did win it’s too late to do anything about it but it would justify any attempted run at future office.

-And it means that people are watching the BOE and the commissioners, who ultimately work for the them and not the political parties.

-Despite all the political inside baseball, not giving a candidate, or anyone else, unfettered access to ballots is shameful. It’s just another scar on an already tainted BOE.

-Bugbee did not immediately return phone calls for comment.     
 

Committee Decision

Statement Regarding NYS Committee on Open Government Opinion by jfranco17410