The Friendly Neighbors Party, which has campaigned closely with the Saddle Rock Minyan temple, won a resounding victory in the Village of Saddle Rock elections on Wednesday, March 15.
The election had a record turnout with more than 600 votes cast, and vote counting went past two in the morning and finally finished the following day.
Kambiz Akhavan won a four-year term as mayor, receiving 417 votes. Joshua Rabanipour and Kousha Askari won four-year terms for trustee, receiving 395 and 393 votes, respectively.
Trustee Hal Chadow, who was disqualified from running by the Nassau County Board of Elections, won on a write-in campaign to complete two years of a four-year trustee term with 379 votes, and Julia Gavriel, who was also disqualified, won a four-year term for village justice on a write-in campaign with 428 votes.
Mayor Dan Levy, who was disqualified by the Nassau County Board of Elections, had announced at the village’s last board meeting that he was not running for reelection and received no write-in votes.
Attempts to reach members of the Friendly Neighbors Party have been unavailing.
Robert Kraus, who received 170 votes in his mayoral run, will continue to serve on the board as a trustee. Kraus campaigned with Martine Alter and Vivian Kollenscher, who each received 168 votes and Sigalit Sanilevich, who received 166.
Kraus and his campaign-mates have been vocally opposed to the way the village has handled the Saddle Rock Minyan, which operated without a special-use permit for over 5 years. At the last board of trustees meeting, the village approved a special-use permit for the Saddle Rock Minyan, with Kraus casting the sole dissenting vote.
One poll worker, who worked for the Nassau County Board of Elections, and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said in his over 15 years of experience, he had never worked on an election like Wednesday night’s. He said there were more than 15 poll watchers, more than he had seen in any local, state-wide, or national election, and lawyers for either slate scrutinized each ballot, making numerous contestations.
“It was a comedy show, but it wasn’t. There was an edge to it,” he said. “A lot of bloodsport for an unpaid job.”
“Now we try to work together for the betterment of the village. There’s a lot of work to be done,” Kraus said.
Nassau County Board of Elections officials said Levy altered the village’s voter roll before Wednesday’s election. Several residents at the polls said they saw names crossed out on the voter roll and were asked to sign an affidavit ballot to vote.
One poll worker said when he received the voter roll, he saw several marks in the book. “There were at least 40 people who had been red-lined,” he said
Kraus said he will follow up with the election board on Levy’s alterations to the village voter roll.
“I’m not looking to upset the election,” Kraus said. “I ran for mayor, not because I so much wanted to be mayor, but because I think it was an absolute need to change the existing mayor.”
Kraus said he has hope for reform in the village.
“[My] priorities are putting in place basic best practices,” he said, such as having the Board of Zoning Appeals meet when a variance is required, following the building code, being more transparent with regard to the village budget and operations, and “running the village more like a democracy than a personal fiefdom.”
The villages of Thomaston and Kensington both held less lively elections with incumbents winning uncontested races.
In Thomaston, trustees Aaron Halpern and Jay Chagrin won reelection with 33 and 30 votes, respectively. Anish Jain and Mal Weinberg both received one write-in vote.
In Kensington, Mayor Jeffrey Greener won reelection with 73 votes, Trustee Linda Cheun received 73 votes, Trustee Andrew Bloom received 68, and Village Justice Richard Kestenbaum received 72 votes.
The Friendly Neighbors Party, which has campaigned closely with the Saddle Rock Minyan, won a resounding victory in the Village of Saddle Rock elections on Wednesday, March 15.
