Mayoral race still not over

By JOSEPH AX
jax@thejournalnews.com
THE JOURNAL NEWS

Timeline

March 15: Election Day. Republican Mayor Dennis Flood finishes the night with a one-vote lead over Democratic challenger Erin Malloy, 845-844.

March 18: A county Board of Elections recount produces a new tally that gives Malloy a one-vote lead, 847-846, and discovers two unopened absentee ballots. One was inadvertently sent to the wrong polling place and thus not opened; the other was apparently cast by an unregistered voter. Later in the day, Village Clerk/Treasurer Lawrence Schopfer opens the first ballot, revealing another Flood vote and tying the election.

March 21: Democrat Susan Morton, who cast the lone unopened ballot, appears at Village Hall to protest. She is registered under the last name Brenner-Morton, which caused Schopfer's confusion. Meanwhile, Flood files a lawsuit claiming irregularities in the voting process and asking for a runoff election.

Friday: State Supreme Court Justice Joan Lefkowitz rules that there were no substantial irregularities and orders Schopfer to open the final ballot. The vote for Malloy gives her a one-vote lead, 848-847.

Yesterday: Flood says he will appeal the decision and renew calls for a runoff vote.

Republican Mayor Dennis Flood said yesterday he has decided to appeal a court ruling last week that appeared to hand the Irvington mayoral election to Democrat Erin Malloy by a single vote.

Papers were to be filed by today. Tomorrow is the final day for Flood to file a challenge to the Westchester County Board of Elections results, which show Malloy leading, 848 votes to 847.

Flood's arguments will focus on what he called "irregularities" in the voting procedure serious enough to warrant a new election.

In addition to problems with absentee ballots and absentee envelopes, Flood said certain polling machines showed numbers at odds with the number of voters who signed their names on the ledger on Election Day. He also repeated his claim from last week that a handful of registered voters were turned away at polls over registration disputes and were denied provisional ballots.

The lawsuit Flood filed last week contained similar arguments, and State Supreme Court Justice Joan Lefkowitz found Friday that there had not been "substantial" irregularities in ordering that a single remaining unopened absentee ballot be opened. The ballot contained a tie-breaking vote for Malloy.

But Flood said further investigation of election documents had unearthed more evidence to support his claims.

"Last week, the judge made a very quick decision," Flood said. "There was not a lot of time to examine the records of the Board of Elections. Since that time, we've found more irregularities that we've documented."

Malloy, who had expressed hope that the saga had ended after the court ruling, said she was "very disappointed" by Flood's decision.

"We both had access to the records last week after they filed their initial set of papers," said Malloy, who would in theory be sworn in on Monday. "We certainly didn't see anything substantive. I just don't understand his motivation or what good he thinks could come of it."

John Ciampoli, the lawyer handling Flood's case, did not return a phone call seeking comment. The Republican attorney also represented state Sen. Nicholas Spano in his protracted court battle with Democratic county Legislator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, after a disputed Senate election in November in which Spano eventually was declared the winner.