WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR Morning Sun. By John F. Bailey. September 16, 2002 UPDATED 2:37 P.M. E.D.T.:Monday morning, Adam Bradley clarified that the “complete” canvass from the Board of Elections he inspected Friday shows no votes cast in Districts 9 & 13 for the offices of, Assembly, County Courts and State Committee.

The Governor and Comptroller races appear on the front of the “complete” canvass, with the Assembly, Court and State Committee Delgates races appearing on the back, Mr. Bradley explained, and there are no votes recorded for those three offices.
He clarified his statement given to WPCNR yesterday, saying that he did have numbers reported to him for assembly from those two districts by his campaign workers Election Night.

By his workers’ examinations of the original canvass sheets, the votes in 9 & 13 put him “slightly ahead,” going into Tuesday’s “official” recanvasses in Harrison, Lewisboro, Bedford, North Castle and White Plains.

Roach: Numbers Check Out in Friday’s Recanvasses.

The recanvasses of Mount Kisco, New Castle and Pound Ridge voting machines, conducted on Friday, according to Tom Roach, White Plains City Councilman, agreed with the Bradley campaign election night numbers. Roach did comment though that some machines were not sealed properly, and at one facility, Pound Ridge, not under police guard. Roach confirmed that the Pound Ridge Town Clerk, Suzanne Beatty, said she had never received the impoundment order from the Board of Elections.

Bradley: Our Numbers Match the Recanvasses Conducted Friday.

Mr. Bradley confirmed Mr. Roach’s report from the northern districts Monday morning, saying his (Bradley’s) Election Night reports “jive” with numbers recorded and confirmed on the voting machines Friday.

Bradley supporters as late as Saturday afternoon had told WPCNR they did not have numbers for Districts 9 & 13 (the machine at Ridgeway School), so could not verify the numbers. Sunday, Bradley told WPCNR this was not correct, that he did have numbers from reported from his workers from Districts 9 & 13 Election Night (not at Board of Elections, as previously reported), showing votes for him and his opponent in the 9th and 13th districts.

Bradley: “complete” was not really complete.

The issue of a possible jammed voting machine in District 9 & 13, is now laid to rest with Bradley’s report that his workers had seen the numbers and they were there Tuesday.

Did they forget?

However, Bradley was disturbed that the Board of Elections reported as “complete,” results that showed no votes for either him or Ms. Matusow in District 9 and 13 on their website. If there were no votes cast for three offices, Election Inspectors would have seen that as a “red flag” and most likely would have reported the missing numbers.

Bradley said the canvass sheet he saw at the Board of Elections Friday for District 9 & 13 showed 184 Democrats voted, with 174 votes for Governor, and votes for Comptroller but on the back of the sheet nothing was recorded for the three offices of Assembly, County Courts and the State Commttee offices.

Without saying so, Bradley raised the possibility that the inspectors simply forgot to fill in the numbers for those three offices.

Bradley allowed that if the machine does show “zero” vote counts for those three offices, when it is opened up then the Board of Elections has a real problem, perhaps a jammed machine.

Bradley added he has found some mistakes in transferring numbers from original canvass sheets to the BOE-described “Complete” Canvass.

Impoundment Mystery

Bradley made clearer the circumstances surrounding Tuesday evening’s impoundment, which all Town Clerks in the 89th Assembly District never received until Thursday morning, and only after WPCNR alerted the Board of Elections to that fact.

Bradley said there was no excuse for the impoundment order not being served early by midnight Tuesday night or at latest early Wednesday morning because Carolee Sunderland, Commissioner of the Board of Elections observed the Judge signing the Impoundment Order. Pound Ridge, for example never received the Impoundment Order.

Down the Stretch They Come.

The recanvasses in Harrison, Lewisboro, Bedford, White Plains and North Castle will tell the story as machines in the districts in those towns will be examined. But, the latest White Plains “extended election” still has approximately 60 absentee ballots and affidavited ballots to count, to add to the recanvass.

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WPCNR PRESS BOX. By John F. Bailey. September 14, 2002: New Rochelle turned four White Plains turnovers into touchdowns in the second quarter Saturday afternoon at Parker Stadium to win a League 1-A clash, 42-7.

White Plains played even in the second half, discovering a passer and receiver combination with promise: Mike Devere who connected three times to Evan McGuire, the third time an 18-yard scoring strike for the Tigers only TD in the opening of the second half.

KICKOFF A TURNING POINT? Electing to kick off with a prevailing southwind, White Plains kicks off to the Huguenots. The kick was strong taken on the 15, but Courtney Greene returned it 25 yards to the 45 for great field position for the opening drive. They punched in for the first TD in 7 plays, the score coming on a 22-yard run around left end, down the sideline 4th and 1 play by Jamal Henderson.

Photo by WPCNR

One Long Half.

The Tigers had one really bad half yesterday, and it started with the knowledge that there was no scoreboard. The big orange-lettered scoreboard was not in service. Quarters were timed on the field, and seemed to this reporter interminably long. The first half took an hour and a half to play, 30 plays in the first quarter, most of them runs, with frequent timeouts on the sultry 80 degree afternoon.

Not Without Opportunity.

After the opening New Rochelle scoring drive where New Rochelle’s big, rangy, overpowering line just opened holes at will, the Tigers got a modest drive going from their own 33. On a Sean McLaughlin pass on 2nd and 10 from the Tiger 45, he fired to Darrell Mack over the middle at the Huguenot 43 and a push by the defender gave the Tigers a first down on the spot.

Fumble Virus

Then the first of the fumbles began. Quarterback McLaughlin took the snap and fumbled losing the ball. New Rochelle took over, only to fumble it right back, giving the ball back to the Tigers on the NR 42. On the next play, Spencer Ridenhour fumbled it right back, again first down, New Rochelle. Was it sticky, sweaty hands on a dry, humid day? Who knew?

After White Plains tightened up on defense and stopped NR for 6 plays on a great sack by Evan McGuire on the New Rochelle quarterback, White Plains took over on their 32, and the Palmer throng sensed that the Tigers were in the game.

Four Touchdowns in Second Quarter After Muffed Punt.

With New Rochelle punting with the wind this quarter, Spencer Ridenhour failed to field a high kick, it hit him in the knees, and New Rochelle recovered at the White Plains 15 yard line. They scored on an 11-yard run by Courtney Greene on the second play, 14-0.

The Tigers never recovered, and the execution errors multiplied. An interception of a McLaughlin pass set up New Rochelle after the following kick-off on the Tiger 48 and a 48 yard pass made it 20-0.

Two more touchdowns on an interception and a return of yet another White Plains fumble made it 36-0 at the half. Daymare! It seemed a season of bad football, by both teams (New Rochelle fumbled too) was packed into one quarter.

THE WHITE PLAINS HIGH SCHOOL BAND PERFORMS at halftime, none too soon, under direction of Leslie Tompkins. The 80-member band looked sharp, delivered “We want a touchdown,” (a football song!) and perked up downcast but good-natured, gallows-humored fans.

Photo by WPCNR

Mike Devere took over at quarterback the second half, and hooked up with Evan McGuire and Darrell Mack on a number of sparkeling receptions in the flat. Devere was given more time in the pocket than an often-pressured Sean McLaughlin received in the first half, and New Rochelle was not playing all its first string line. However, lefty Devere spun around and threw sharp flat passes to McGuire and Darrell Mack that moved the football on two drives in the third quarter, handling the ball well under pressure. To be fair, McLaughlin was under a severe pass rush in the first half, and was not given the time to locate his receivers before they could finish their routes. The tall New Rochelle rushers made it difficult to spot the receivers.

PAGEANTRY OF PARKER STADIUM ON SATURDAY: The 42-7 loss, evened the Tigers record at 1-1. They travel to play Ramapo next Saturday at 1:30 PM.
Photo by WPCNR

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. September 13, 2002 BREAKING NEWS UPDATED 8:15 PM EDT: As the sensitive recanvassing process began Friday in three of the Naomi Matusow “stronghold towns,” WPCNR has learned that the Board of Elections Canvass sheets provided to the Bradley campaign reported “complete” by the Board of Elections are missing two key White Plains districts on the assembly vote, where reportedly 184 Democratic Voters voted, according to the sign-in sheets viewed by the Bradley campaign.

The recanvassing process which began today and was reported still in process in late afternoon, according to a “Bradley Brigader” was showing what the Bradley campaign expected to find, and that was “good.” He would not elaborate further.

Pound Ridge Report

Another observer on the scene at Pound Ridge, remarked that so far the numbers Mr. Bradley’s observers took and reported from the canvass sheets on the scenes Tuesday night match those found on the voting machines at Mt. Kisco, New Castle and Pound Ridge today.

Where’s My Impoundment Order?

Our WPCNR “reporter,” on the scene at Pound Ridge, reports that Suzanne Beatty, Town Clerk of Pound Ridge still had not received a copy of Judge Orazio Bellantoni’s impoundment order at the time of the recanvass Friday, three days after he signed it Tuesday night.

BOE “Final” Canvass Sheets Bradley Says Show ZERO votes in Districts 9 & 13, for Assembly but 173 voters for Governor’s race.

According to a news tip from a source close to candidate Adam Bradley, the canvass sheets provided to the Bradley camp by the Board of Elections show “0’s” for key White Plains Districts 9 and 13 on the Assembly line.

Mr. Bradley confirmed this at 6:45 PM to WPCNR Friday evening after he had viewed the “Complete” White Plains Canvass Sheets at the Board of Elections Friday. He did not make a copy where he personally made the discovery of the zeros. Bradley commented that the Board of Elections had delayed showing him the Canvass Sheets until Friday.

Votes for Governor/ Not Assembly?

Commenting further, Bradley said it was interesting that the canvass sheets showed 173 persons voted in the Governor Race, yet no votes were recorded in the Assembly race in Districts 9 and 13 on the sheets. He said 184 Democrats had voted, according to sign-in sheets at the Ridgeway School location, and found it strange that those 184 would not have voted in the Assembly race, but 173 voted in the Governor’s Primary Race.

A lot closer than it looks.

He said, this shows the election is “way too close to call,” with Matusow having a 99 vote lead, and, Mr. Bradley’s discovery that the Board of Elections is, according to his information, missing 184 votes. He said he carried White Plains by a 2.7 to 1 margin over Matusow, while Matusow won the five northern communities: Lewisboro, North Castle, Pound Ridge, Bedford , Mount Kisco by 3 to 1.

WPCNR Does the Math:

This information of possibly uncounted votes, would indicate Bradley might pick up 138 votes and Ms. Matusow, 46 if Districts 9 & 13 followed the Bradley trend. Mr. Bradley also pointed out the Absentee Ballots of which there were about 60 had yet to be counted.

Can of Worms

On the other hand, if the machines do actually say “ZERO Votes” for assembly in Districts 9 & 13, there may be a bigger can of worms opened.

Asked whether Mr. Bradley could file a quo warranto proceeding as Lawrence Delgado of White Plains is doing to overturn a BOE mandated Matusow victory in the primary, Bradley said no, the Election Law statute does not allow him that right. However, Bradley did say, the courts could order a new primary.

Heavily populated White Plains Districts Missing?

Voters in District 9 and District 13 voted at the Ridgeway School in White Plains, according to Board of Elections pre-election district locations.

The White Plains voting machines were voluntarily impounded Wednesday by White Plains City Clerk Janice Manieri as a precaution so if there are votes recorded for Assembly on those two machines, they should be picked up in the White Plains recanvass Tuesday, which is looming big with the new information discovered by Bradley today when he went over the BOE White Plains canvass sheet.

Board of Elections “Missteps?”

This report of “zero votes” in two White Plains Districts appears to be a fourth misstep by the Board of Elections which Adam Bradley has criticised for failure to provide him with canvass sheets in a timely fashion.

The recording of “zeros” on the canvass sheets, as yet unconfirmed, would indicate that the 78 districts reported as “complete” on the Assembly Race by the Board of Elections may be missing two heavily populated White Plains districts.

Previous Board of Elections missteps, in reporting the close Bradley-Matusow race, were:

1. Approximately a 15 to 24 hour delay in reporting all districts from 10:15 PM to well after 1 PM Wednesday, when the Board of Elections website reported a 180-vote lead for Ms. Matusow.

2. Failure to notify all eight Town Clerks to impound the voting machines in their districts to impound their machines until about 11:00 AM Thursday morning.

The delay is being blamed on county police not knowing what to do with the impoundment order. But, the county police Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety William Rehm said Thursday when contacted by WPCNR, the police never received the impoundment order Tuesday evening or Wednesday, by implication.

Public Safety Officer says it’s his fault — did not receive impoundment order until Thursday.

Maureen Keating-Tsuchiya, a “Bradley Brigader,” told WPCNR Friday evening that a Captain Marty McGlynn (spelling could not be confirmed) of the County Department of Public Safety said he was responsible for sending out the impoundment order to the Town Clerks. However, Ms. Keating-Tochiya says Captain McGlynn reports that he did not receive the impoundment order from the Board of Elections until Thursday morning, saying, that it was his fault for not sending out the impoundment order.

Timing Still 10-11 hours late.

The timing though of Captain McGlynn’s report of when he received the Impoundment Order (Thursday morning) was already about 10 to 11 hours past the deadline set by Judge Bellantoni of 12 noon, September 11. When WPCNR contacted County Deputy Public Safety Commissioner William Rehm it was early Thursday morning. The Commissioner of Public Safety for Westchester County is Lewis D’Aliso.

Ms. Keating-Tsuchiya said D’Aliso was on vacation. Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety William Rehm told WPCNR Thursday morning, that the Department of Public Safety had not received an impoundment order from the Board of Elections as of the time we spoke to the Deputy Commissioner.

The very strange fact that WPCNR heard Wednesday from one Town Clerk remains: This Clerk told WPCNR that she had expected an impoundment, was surprised when none was received Wednesday and called the Board of Elections to ask if the machines had been ordered impounded. She was told no on Wednesday by a Board of Elections official she did not identify.

Board of Elections Commissioner LaFayette Criticised for not cooperating with Bradley Camp.

Ms. Keating-Tsuchiya raised another, possibly fifth issue: perceived lack of information from the Board of Elections on the recanvass schedule.

Ms. Keating Tsuchiya CO-Chairperson of the New Castle Democrats, criticised Commissioner of the Board of Elections, Reginald LaFayette, of not being forthcoming with the recanvassing schedule, and for changing the schedule when it was issued, and not keeping the Bradley camp imformed.

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WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. By John F. Bailey. September 12, 2002 NEW INFORMATION 11:45 P.M. EDT: In a posting to its website Thursday morning, the Westchester County Board of Elections reported incumbent Assemblywoman Naomi Matusow’s lead after all 78 districts have been counted as being 99 votes, 2,547 votes to 2,448 with 18% of the Absentee Ballots still to be counted, 60 in all, and an undertimined amount of “Affidavitt Ballots.”
This sets the stage for a dramatic recanvass which will begin Friday, according to a spokesperson for Commissioner Reginald LaFayette’s office. The days and times for the recanvass of the eight communities in the 89th Assembly District were reported to WPCNR, Thursday morning, but have since been changed, Harrison being moved to Tuesday.
The unofficial results posted on the Board of Elections Thursday morning:

Office ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 89

PARTY 78 Districts out of 78 Reporting (100)% Votes Percent

82% of Absentee Ballots Counted

DEM BRADLEY, ADAM T 2,448 49%

DEM MATUSOW, NAOMI C 2,547 51%

Office Totals 4,995 100%

TURN-OUT 17%

The Board of Elections Recanvass Caravan

One team of inspectors from the Westchester County Board of Elections will begin the sensitive recanvassing of the Primary Vote beginning Friday, in the north end of the 89th, staggering the visits. The team will begin in Pound Ridge approximately 11:30 A.M., then on to Mount Kisco at 12:30 P.M. and wrap up with New Castle at 2:30 P.M.

The locations of the voting machines where the recanvasses will be conducted by a single team Friday, according to Maureen Keating-Tsuchiya, of the Bradley campaign, who is assigning her watchers are as follows:
Friday 11:30 Pound Ridge–Highway Garage, Stonehill Road, Rt. 137

12:30 Mt. Kisco–Whalen Moving & Storage
39 Kiscona Avenue, Mt. Kisco

2:30 New Castle–200 So.Greeley Avenue, Chappaqua

For Tuesday, the format has changed with two Board of Elections teams splitting North District locations and White Plains and Harrison to the South.

On Tuesday, (not Monday as previously written in error), the North BOE team begins counting with Lewisboro at 10:30 A.M., hits Bedford at 12:30, and completes the canvas planning to arrive North Castle at approximately 1 P.M or later.

The South Team Tuesday begins with Harrison at 9:30 A.M. and moves on to White Plains at 12 noon. The Tuesday locations:

North Watch

Tuesday Team #1 10:30 Lewisboro: Meadow Pond School Warehouse, Deepwell Farm Road, Lewisboro

12:30 Bedford Whalen Moving & Storage 39 Kiscona Avenue, Mt.Kisco.

1:00 North Castle Recreation Center, Whippowill Road, Armonk.

South Watch

Team #2 9:30 Harrison, Town Garage Gleason Place off Harrison Avenue

Noon–White Plains 20 Ferris Ave (firehouse)
lower level

Bradley Estimate of Total Vote Very Close. But Wrong Horse.

The estimates received from the Adam Bradley “Election Analysts” Tuesday evening said the projected winner, according to their election night runners, and expected absentee and affidavitt ballots, would receiver 2,500 to 2,600 votes and the loser 2,400 votes. That estimate is in line with the actual vote count so far.

Only their reports from elections sites had Bradley with the winning totals, not Ms. Matusow.

The recanvass will sort out whether the Board of Elections recorded the canvass sheets taken from the backs of the voting machines corrrectly. The Board does not assign their clerks to specific elections so results are not tracked by a specific clerk who is in charge of a particular race.

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WPCNR EVENING CITY STAR REPORTER. By John F. Bailey. September 11, 2002:The Board of Elections this evening posted their first update of the “too close to call” 89th Assembly District in almost 24 hours.

INCUMBENT PICKS UP MOMENTUM ON LATEST BOARD OF ELECTIONS REPORTS
Photo by WPCNR

Incumbent Naomi Matusow with one district out, not identified, has a 159-vote lead over her challenger Adam Bradley, 2,525 votes to 2,366. The unofficial figures from the Board of Elections website as of 10 PM EDT follow:
Office ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 89

PARTY 77 Districts out of 78 Reporting (98)% Votes Percent
82% of Absentee Ballots Counted

DEM BRADLEY, ADAM T 2,366 48%

DEM MATUSOW, NAOMI C 2,525 52%

Office Totals 4,891 100%

TURN-OUT 17%

The Bradley camp reacting to the numbers disagrees with the unofficial Board of Elections count, pending recanvas, based on their tallies at the machines on site. Jonathan Appel, Bradley campaign manager, points to confused reports coming from the Board of Elections, as evidence for optimism on the part of his candidate. Appel said the Board of Elections has told the Bradley team they were missing three White Plains districts, then that only one was missing.

Appel, who handles the numbers for Adam Bradley, says the absentee ballots have yet to be opened and counted, of which there are, he understands, about 40 from White Plains alone. Appel, who said his candidate’s unofficial numbers last night from the election machine sites, showed Bradley winning by as much as 200 to 300 votes when all was said and done, was still confident and awaited the recanvass.

LaFayette: Recanvass May Begin Friday.

Reginald LaFayette, Co-Chair of the Board of Elections, told WPCNR Thursday afternoon that he thought canvassing would begin on Friday.