Affidavit ballot names Cadet trustee, board petitions for recount
The Westbury School District election was three weeks ago, yet questions remain over who will take the third trustee seat when the reorganization meeting is held in July.
Nine candidates, including three incumbents, threw their names in the ring for the three open trustee seats on May 17.
While incumbent Rodney Caines was named the winner of the third seat by two votes on Election night—with newcomer Pedro Quintanilla and former board member Stanton Brown, beating out incumbents Laura Pierce and Leslie Davis—the recent review of ballots, including six affidavit ballots, has put challenger Sherley Cadet ahead by one vote.
The board of education is petitioning New York State Education Department Commissioner of Education MaryEllen Elia for an official recount of votes.
“We hope that [the recount] will occur within the next 28 to 30 days so whatever the outcome is, we can at least give the oath of office to the incoming board members and they can take their seats,” said board of education president Dr. Pless Dickerson.
Cadet, joined by her running mates Quintanilla and Brown, put in a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request the morning following the election to review documents such as the signature books, paperwork from voting machines and absentee ballots.
The district also had six affidavit ballots—filled out by voters who believe they are registered to vote but are denied from voting if poll workers verify their registration—to review after Election Day. On Friday, May 27, five were found to be registered voters, putting Cadet and Caines in a tie and prompting the board of education to hold a special meeting on Wednesday, June 1, with the intention of accepting the ballot and voting to hold a runoff election between the two candidates.
The meeting took an unexpected turn however, when the person who filled out the sixth affidavit ballot—which was cast off because the district couldn’t find proof that they were registered with the Nassau County Board of Elections—presented to the board evidence that he had registered to vote through the school district. Because he registered directly with the school, the Nassau County Board of Elections did not have his information on file.
Upon opening the man’s affidavit ballot, it was found that the tie-breaker vote went to Cadet.
“When the resident showed up and spoke, they had no choice but to open the ballot,” said Cadet. “My team and myself worked so hard with this campaign and we knew we did a great job. It was a happy moment.”
When asked why the board felt it was necessary to do a recount after the results of the affidavit ballot were released and not prior, Dickerson said there was uncertainty regarding the absentee ballots.
“There seems to be some slight discrepancies when it came to the absentee ballots,” said Dickerson. “We want to make sure we are being fair and equitable. We’re being overly cautious to make sure the right thing is done.”
