Great Neck will have to wait until at least next week to find out who was elected to serve on the library board and nominating committee following delays caused by a slate of candidates objecting to proxy ballots, sources told Blank Slate Media.
Board President Liman Mimi Hu and Rory Lancman, both candidates in the election, said objections to 37 proxy ballots were submitted by candidates Jessica Hughes, Christina Rusu and Sara Rivka Khodadadian.
A total of 24 of the objected proxy votes were sent by individuals with East Asian or South Asian surnames, Lancman said.
Hu is running to retain her seat on the board against Hughes while Lancman, Rusu and Karen Hirsch-Romero are running in an at-large election for a vacant seat on the board in a race marked by culture war issues.
Khodadadian is running against Kim Schader for an expiring seat on the library’s nominating committee.
Both seats on the board have four-year terms while the committee seat is a three-year term.
Sources said that more than 3,000 in-person votes were tallied at the election machines on Monday from 10 a.m.- 10 p.m. while more than 330 proxy votes were submitted to the library.
They said the machines’ results showed that Hughes led Hu by 250 votes, Rusu led Lancman by more than 150 votes and Khodadadian led Kim Schader by more than 190 votes.
Lancman and Hu, in a statement, said the approximate 300 proxy ballots that were counted as of Wednesday night resulted in Lancman leading by 22 votes, Hu’s deficit being reduced to 28 votes and Schader’s deficit reduced to 18 votes.
“We are appalled at this abuse of the election process, and at the attempt to deny some residents their right to vote,” a joint statement from Hu and Lancman said. “We are confident that once these obstructions are lifted, and a full and fair count of all our neighbors’ votes is completed, we will be declared the winners of this election.”
Lancman told Blank Slate Media that the slate of candidates who filed the objections are attempting to prevent the votes from being counted. Their actions, he said, reflect the efforts of those trying to stop the vote count during the 2020 presidential election.
“These folks are mirrors of Trump in so many ways, including how they’re handling the election results,” Lancman said. “We’re seeing that here.. Another example of Trumpism in Great Neck. They want to block the counting of the perfectly legitimate and well-known process of mail-in ballots.”
Efforts to reach Jessica Hughes, Christina Rusu, Sara Rivka Khodadadian and library officials for comment on the matter were unavailing.
“If the legitimate ballots are counted, I’ll win and Mimi and Kim will have made up the difference,” Lancman said.
Some have said the race has been reflective of the national culture wars going on throughout society currently, centered on banning or restricting books, primarily related to LGBTQ.
Hu said the placement of certain books is at the discretion of library professionals, touted the importance of “intellectual freedom” and said she is against banning books.
Hughes said the question did not center around censorship, but rather promoting “divisive and exclusionary” content. Library officials, she said, should respond to parental input so they can best serve their community.
Rusu said coming from a communist country gave her an insight into what censorship is and said she does not believe in banning books.
Lancman, a former state Assemblyman and New York City councilman who said he is running to oppose a national trend to pull books from libriary shelves for political reasons, also said banning books has “no place” in Great Neck and that no library should be restricting content to individuals because it may make them feel uncomfortable.
The library district stretches from the Great Neck peninsula to North New Hyde Park and is comprised of the Main Library on Bayview Avenue along with the Lakeville, Parkville and Station branches.
What’s in these books that are causing so much controversy? Lancman seems like such a unifier trying to rid Great Neck of “Trumpism” or half the country/community that voted for a political party he doesn’t like.
One sided journalism
This guy has no math skills do you really want him responsible for any money? If 3 people are loosing by over 600 votes when there are only 330 votes left only one of them can win. If all 3 win we all know what happened. This isn’t about books it’s about managing our tax dollars.
“If the legitimate ballots are counted, I’ll win and Mimi and Kim will have made up the difference,” Lancman said.
What you’re forgetting is that each ballot has votes for 3 candidates. A single ballot can have a vote for all three of them, and 330 * 3 = 990. As long as most of the absentee votes are for Mimi and Kim (which is likely), they win.
Of course, the easier way to figure this out is to open the fucking ballots. But of course, we can’t do that; then we’d see who won the election.
What you’re forgetting is that each ballot has votes for 3 candidates. A single ballot can can a vote for all three of them, and 330 * 3 = 990. As long as most of the absentee votes are for Mimi and Kim (which is likely), they win.
Of course, the easier way to figure this out is to open the f*cking ballots. But of course, we can’t do that; then we’d see who won the election.
There is a difference between proxy and absentee ballots, so I find your article confusing.
My husband and I voted by absentee ballot. How can we can confirm our ballots were counted.
I would never vote for a candidate who believes in restricting access to books. Review what your child reads (although if they really want to read something they will find a way to), but don’t limit which books my child has access to.
As always, they attack the candidates they don’t want to be elected, just because they don’t agree with them. They are denying the candidates the right to have an election lawyer check and supervise counting the absentee ballots. Most reasonable people would think this is legitimate. The haters and dividers are as usual opposing a fair count! Mr. Lancman is hoping to win, just as all other candidates do. It just has to be done fairly and legally!
I suppose “Your comment is awaiting moderation” means it has to be approved by a person or persons who will decide if they like it and agree with it or not!
Don’t ban books, but maybe think about which books should be in the children’s section;
Keep books that may be controversial to religious beliefs in the Adult Section
This is such a lie.
The ballots in question are totally illegitimate.
They were not arrived by mail as required by law, but rather were brought in by Mimi and her supporters and staffed into the ballot box.
Mini is using library money ( taxpayers money) to sue members of the board and nominating committee who oppose her dictatorial methods. She even try to dismiss the entire nominating committee. She wants to run the library as her own any way she see it fits. Topical communist party doctrine.
This is all a typical left/liberal lie.
Rory is a career political “office occupier” who seeks to live at public expense. He runs for various offices in the county and collects pay.
Mimi on the other hand is a typical commie with dictatorial methods. She sues members of the board and nominating committee who oppose her using library, I.e. taxpayers money. She even attempted to dismiss the entire nominating committee sighting it’s unnecessary simply because committee members did not go along with her wishes.
The issue with books is just a smoke screen.
Also the ballots in question are all without exception for Mimi. They were stuffed in the ballot boxes by either by Mimi herself or some of her supporters and completely illegitimate.
These ballots were NOT delivered by mail as required by law.
These ballots should not be counted.
Comments subject to moderator is called censorship.
There was no rule that proxy ballots had to be delivered by mail. Lots of people hand-delivered them to the library. That is allowed. But it’s interesting that you’re ready to disqualify ballots based on a rule you just made up.
“Keep books that may be controversial to religious beliefs in the Adult Section”—excuse me?? Your religious beliefs may be different from mine. Should your religious books be sectioned off because they go against my beliefs? Listen to yourself. The library is for everyone. You can’t dictate where the books go based on what you personally believe.
There is absolutely rule for vote-by-mail, as it would be in any democratic and legitimate election process. The ballot must be mailed in in signed by registered voter envelope. The signature must match the signature on voter registration card. The envelope must be post dated by postal service not stamping machine with the date prior to Election Day to make it legitimated.
So, absolutely there are rules for mail in ballots. If they are brought in in person they must be delivered to the library either in the day of election or prior during early election process. The identity of the person bringing the proxy ballot must be verified and signature matched. It also will show if the person votes more then once. Once verified the ballot is entered into ballot scanning machine. That is the rule as in any democratic and legitimate election.
The ballots in question were found in the library director’s office staffed into the box in the corner and, of course they were marked for only one person.
So these ballots are illegitimate and absolutely cannot be counted and that’s why they are contested in the Supreme Court