WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS By John F. Bailey. October 21, 2006: There will be a second session of the Board of Education to “recertify” the referendum canvas ratified Wednesday evening by the White Plains Board of Education due to a “clerical error” after the first recanvas Wednesday morning, according to the Clerk to the Board of Education, Michele Schoenfeld. Ms. Schoenfeld reported the second “final” canvas results to WPCNR late Friday afternoon showing the dramatic increase in votes over the last hours of the Tuesday to be the result of the counting of 139 unopened Absentee and Affidavit by District-employed Board of Elections inspectors when polls closed.
WPCNR learned Thursday that the City School District conducts, records and reports its budget votes and special elections independent of any outside, neutral oversight and has for years. WPCNR has a call into the State Education Department to ascertain whether the School District has the legal ability to engage the Westchester Board of Elections legally to run and report every aspect of school elections to prevent such reporting gliches in the future.
The tally released Friday morning to the media, finds the $69.6 Million Capital Project Referendum carrying by 1050 votes to 934. That count, Schoenfeld said, includes 122 Absentee Ballots and 17 Affidavit Ballots. Of the 122 Absentee Ballots, 96 were “yes” votes and 26 were “no” votes. Of the Affidavit Votes there were 10 “Yes” Votes and 7 “No” Votes.
However, if all absentee and affidavit votes were thrown out, the referendum would still carry on the voting machine count, 944 to 901, a 43-vote margin, and a 5% plurality, the margin carries by 4.56 per cent of the vote.
A Clerical Error: "9" was an "8"
Ms Schoenfeld said the “clerical error occurred when an “8” was incorrectly interpreted as a “9” on a recording sheet that reduced the “Yes” total by 10 votes. This was apparently discovered Thursday by the School District after the first recanvas was supposed to have been executed Friday presumably before the Board of Education ratified the vote Wednesday eveing. Ms. Schoenfeld did not say when the error was discovered but it would be presumably discovered Thursday after the “ratification.”.
Ms. Schoenfeld says this 8 instead of a 9 misread was the only error found in transcribing. She did not say whether she personally checked the “count wheels” in the machines, but every routine Board of Elections canvas does that, and does it before they “certify,” so naturally Ms. Schoenfeld and her two-person team would be expected to do that, too, or should have.
Invisible Voter Mobs were Actually Pieces of Paper
The perception on the part of three letter writers that there had to have been mobs of last minute voters that were not there at their three polling places Tuesday evening: Rochambeau, Highlands and Church Street would not have been perceived had the absentee ballot totals been presented Tuesday evening broken down by the School Voting Districts which they were not. The first four Results were also chalked up on the blacboard at City School District Headquarters at Education House, very early about 10 minutes at the most past 9 P.M., which is unprecendented, and the final two districts, the largest, were written on the big chalk board at about 9:15 P.M. Inspectors had closed the polls at 9 P.M., opened the machines, recorded to votes off the counters in the machines, and then opened all 139 paper ballots and phoned in the results to Ms. Schoenfeld by 9:15 to 9:20 P.M.
Ms. Schoenfeld told me that absentee ballots were delivered unopened to the six school election districts during the day presumably at the start of the polls. The School District issues Absentee Ballots on request from voters. The Board of Election does not. In order to get an Absentee Ballot, voters had to call Ms. Schoenfeld.
Counting Procedure
When the polls close, Schoenfeld said, inspectors record the voting totals within each voting machine and match the counts to the number of voters signed in. She said they then after 9 P.M., open and count the Absentee and Affidavit Ballots assigned their district and match the names to the polling sign-ins to make sure no one votes twice and that they are registered voters.
Board of Election Gets Absentees from Nursing Home
Commissioner of the Westchester County Board of Elections Reginald Lafayette told WPCNR that the Board of Elections sells the voter poll lists and signature sign-in books to the Board, and collects absentee ballots from nursing homes where over 25 “White Plains residents” reside within the city.
He said the Board of Elections assigned a Republican and a Democrat representative to go to one nursing home in White Plains the Schnurmacher Nursing Home, 12 Tibbetts Avenue, White Plains. Lafayette told WPCNR the School District requests the Board of Elections to execute acquisition of Absentee Ballots from the Schnurmacher residents. The Board of Elections collected 64 Absentee Ballots from the Schnurmacher home in this election, accounting for the discrepancy a letter writer pointed out when they voted at the Rochambeau School and noticed about 65 more persons would have had to have voted between about 7:15 and 9 P.M. to make up the final count after they had voted. The same is true of Church Street School and the Highlands.
That is unclear though, because Schoenfeld told WPCNR that the Schnurmacher residents are classified as “permanently sick and disabled” and at every election those residents have requested the Board of elections to bring them absentee ballots.
Schoenfeld said the City School District does not request the Board of Elections to collect absentees at each election. She said the Board of Elections has this program that persons can sign and at every election the Board will come and collect their absentee ballots and deliver then sealed to the City School District.
The Absentee Ballot Count, for the record provided by the City School District Friday:
District 1: Fire House -- 2 Ballots -- 1 YES 1 NO
District 2: Church Street School -- 16 Ballots – 10 YES, 6 NO (2 Machines)
District 3: Rochambeau School – 64 Ballots – 57 YES, 7 NO
District 4: Highlands (Middle Sch) 11 BALLOTS 7 YES, 4 NO (2 Machines)
District 5: Mamaroneck Av -- 8 Ballots -- 7 YES 1 NO
District 6: Ridgeway School – 21 Ballots – 14 YES 7 NOs
Absentee Ballot Totals – 96 YES 26 NO
Affidavit Ballot Counts
Station 1 : Zero
Station 2: 1 YES, 1 NO
Station 3: 1 YES,
Station 4: 3 YES, 3 NO
Station 5: 2 YES 1 NO
Station 6: 3 YES, 2 NO
Affidavit Ballots: 10 YES, 7 NO
This confusion on where the extra voters came from would not have occurred if these Absentee and Affidavit Ballot Breakdowns had been included with the vote breakdown provided Tuesday evening. The “concern” by voters would not have surfaced because WPCNR would have reported them. Ms. Schoenfeld said Tuesday night that absentee ballots had been included in the counts, and Friday’s “corrected count” appears to confirm that.
