Election Day saw the use of new voting machines in New York, and there were reports of significant problems at polling sites across the state.  As a result, thousands of legitimate votes cast on Election Day have yet to be counted.

These votes will determine which party controls the state senate and sets the agenda next year, and it is imperative that we ensure a full and fair process that results in an honest accounting of all votes cast.

• In Westchester, Suzi Oppenheimer appears to have won and is ahead by several hundred votes.
• In Long Island, Craig Johnson trails by a few hundred votes with thousands of absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.
• In Buffalo, Antoine Thompson also trails by a few hundred votes with thousands more yet to be counted.

In Suffolk County, initial returns in some races have shown varying outcomes, underscoring the need for full and fair recounts.

This is confirmed by coverage from LoHud:

The state Board of Elections says the election results in 10 races across New York have been impounded by the courts because of the closeness of the contests.

The races include the three tight contests for the state Senate—the Buffalo seat held by Democrat Sen. Antoine Thompson, the Westchester seat held by Democrat Suzi Oppenheimer and the Long Island seat held by Craig Johnson.

Republicans are currently in the lead against Thompson and Johnson, while Oppenheimer is deadlocked against Republican Bob Cohen.

Also impounded is the results from the 25th Congressional District between Democratic Rep. Dan Maffei of Syracuse and his Republican challenger Ann Marie Buerkle, who holds a 684-vote lead.

Six tight Assembly races have also been impounded: Districts 1, 89, 96, 100, 109 and 121.

What impounds means is that the vote totals are now supervised by a judge. In the case of the state Senate races, it means absentee ballots will begin being counted tomorrow, as who is in the majority remains in the balance.

Here’s the update from earlier this afternoon, from Capitol Confidential:

Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer is leading her GOP challenger Bob Cohen by 466 votes, with all but two election districts in Westchester County reporting.

(Click here on SD–>37 to see)

“Suzi is gaining strength and closing strong, as we expected. Once all votes have been counted, it will be clear, Democrats retained the majority,” said Democratic spokesman Austin Shafran.

If Oppenheimer hangs on, along with Sens. Craig Johnson and Antoine Thompson, Democrats will keep a 32-30 majority in the Senate. Both Thompson and Johnson are running behind, however; the latest tally puts Thompson down by 598 votes to challenger Mark Grisanti.

There will be court action tomorrow morning regarding the seat, I’m told by GOP lawyers. Both Democrats and Republicans filed motions with courts in Erie and Niagara counties (respectively) to prevent any ballot counting from occurring outside of a judicially sanctioned process. Republicans filed their suit in Niagara County around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, thinking they’d get better treatment from a judge there than Erie County, where Democrats filed their action.

A judge will hear the Democratic case tomorrow in Buffalo. Republicans hope things will be quick and that the action will be subsumed by their own litigation, which is returnable in court on Monday.

Fingers crossed :/

Tomorrow’s the big day. Remember to tell your friends to vote!

MYDers with Tony!

We joined a diverse coalition of other progressives for a rally for Tony before going out to knock on doors

Go Tony!

Our Fearless Leaders!

For all the talk about reforming Albany, from the independent organizations to the candidates running for governor, there is one surefire way voters can help the cause–electing more women to the state legislature.

In a recent Huffington Post article, New Roosevelt Initiative founder Bill Samuels makes the case for sending more women to Albany.  As Mr. Samuels notes, “New York ranks 40th in the nation, dragging along at the bottom third, with state senates that have fewer than 20% women, such as Alabama, Alaska, Mississippi and South Carolina.”

The actual percentage of women in the New York State Senate is 16.1%, 10 out of 62.  According to cenus data women are 52% of the population.  You don’t have to be a math wiz to know what that means: women are woefully underrepresented in our state government.

The good news is that there are currently 12 Democratic women running for New York State Senate, which means that come Tuesday, voters will have the opportunity to add several Progressive, female voices to the conversation in Albany.

To learn more about these candidates, visit 16% and Rising, a site dedicated to electing Democratic women to the State Senate.  And don’t forget to vote on Tuesday!

This year, we have the chance to increase our Democratic majority in the State Senate — and nothing — we repeat, nothing! — will push the progressive agenda along faster for the State of New York than picking up just a handful of seats there. And this year is far more important than most people even realize, because the State Senate will determine how redistricting occurs next year. As our Good Government Task Force outlined in its policy points, MYD supports an Independent Redistricting Commission and you can bet every dollar in your wallet that a GOP-controlled State Senate won’t much be in favor of that. Redistricting will have a huge impact for the next decade (holy crap!) and it has the very real potential of erasing all of the gains we’ve made in recent years (a documentary about it is making the rounds here).

David Carlucci’s campaign is gaining momentum. As we did for Gustavo Rivera, MYD can make a critical difference in this race. Here’re some more details:

• He has the endorsements of Planned Parenthood, Empire State Pride Agenda, and the NYS Teachers Union.
• This week both State Senator Dan Squadron (YGID Honoree, ’09) and Rivera cited the importance of his race to building a real coalition for progressive change in Albany. (Video here)
• His opponent is an anti-marriage equality Republican with 17 years in office in Rockland.
• He raised $100,000 before the filing deadline that just passed, but what they need is voter IDs — we can help him!

So I ask you this, MYDers, do you…

…want to see Marriage Equality passed in our state next year?

…want to ensure hydrofracking is banned forever in the Catskills to protect our water supply?

…want Albany to move beyond the dubious honor as the worst State Legislature in the country?

These are the kinds of critical issues taken up by the State Senate. So join us to phone bank and canvass. We promise it’ll be fun, there will be free food, free booze, and good company — and you WILL make a difference, just as we did in the Bronx.

PHONE BANK in Manhattan, Wed, Oct. 6th: register HERE
Join us for free food/beer and have an impact without having to leave the island!

CANVASS in Rockland , Sat, Oct. 16th to Sun, Oct. 17th: register HERE
A Weekend Trip — it’s going to be a blast!!

If you have questions please email Colin at field@gomyd.com

Both candidates are running against powerful incumbents: Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. and Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., respectively.  With a daily readership of over 290,000 people, the El Diario endorsement could potentially reach thousands of Bronx voters.

Of Gustavo Rivera, the endorsement reads:

The time has come to close the door on the politics of “me” and for the politics of “we” to reign. District 33 has a chance to do this on Sept. 14 by supporting Rivera.

To help elect pro-marriage equality candidates, visit the MYD 2010 Campaign Page.

New York Democrats have had to face a rocky economy and recession-induced budget shortfalls in their first few years as the majority party in the State Senate.  But New York voters remember the previous 40 years of GOP control, and according to a new Siena College poll, only 27% of New York voters want to go back:

• 33%:  Want to see Democrats expand their State Senate majority
• 34%:  Prefer the status quo, in which Democrats hold a narrow edge
• 27%:  Want to see Republicans re-take a majority

This has to be unwelcome news for State Senate Republicans.  Between the GOP infighting occurring up and down the ballot and the atrophy of the Senate Republicans’ statewide campaign apparatus, Republican Senate candidates were depending on a hostile electorate to carry them over the top in key districts.

But that electorate, while clearly hostile to incumbents (only 31% plan to re-elect their incumbent Senator in a generic question), is not scapegoating Democrats for the state’s troubles.  And with Republicans showing extreme weakness in every statewide contest tested in the Sienna poll, there are no coattails for GOP legislative candidates to ride.

But, making sure the Democratic majority is expanded–so that we can avoid situations like the last summer’s coup and really get going on enacting a progressive agenda for the state–is going to be hard work over the next three months. Learn why it’s so important we fight for better Dems and a better Albany by watching MYD’s Take Back NY video here:

Check out information on campaigns here and get plugged in with the MYD field team by emailing Colin at field [at] goMYD [dot] com!

The Albany Project

Like we've been saying: Don't Vote for Pedro

Reason #1:

He’s accused by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of siphoning $14million from his Bronx-based Soundview health clinics.

Reason #2:

A high-end Manhattan tailor is suing Espada for walking out on a $7,200 tab for six custom suits.

And this just out, Reason #3:

The Bronx Democrat still owes the state Board of Elections $10,310 for failing to turn over timely financial disclosure forms, board spokesman John Conklin told the Daily News on Tuesday.

Agreed:

“It’s a disgrace,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “After repeated promises to do otherwise, the majority leader is still in violation of the state election law.”

Want to help us oust Pedro Espada Jr? We’re canvassing this weekend in the 33rd District. Free transport, 10-3PM on Saturday, and likely back up there on Sunday.

Email vp [at] goMYD [dot] to get this deadbeat out of office!

Daily  News

The Welfare Rights Initiative is a 15 year old organization dedicated to addressing the systemic issues behind welfare reform by providing education, legal, social service and advocacy program training. These tools empower young men and women to organize for fair and equal access to among other things, the right to a higher education.

Part of what allowed this program to flourish was their successful push in 2000 to get college enrollment and work-study recognized as sufficient for fulfilling  the welfare work requirement . However to get this passed advocates had to jump enormous hurdles. The passage of the Work Study and Internship Bill in 2000 essentially rested on the leadership of State Senators Tom Duane (D) and Ray Meier (R) ability to foster bi-partisan cooperation between the parties and correct an injustice in the CUNY system that had already “lost over 20,000 students receiving public assistance because of misguided federal, state and city welfare policy”

Now 10 years later what was originally a 2 year renewal law has finally been made permanent when Gov. Patterson signed The Work Study Internship Law on June 29^th with the overwhelming support of legislators from both sides of the aisle.

“The law has allowed thousands of students receiving welfare to continue their college enrollment while participating in work study, internships and externships. It has been one of the most effective tools in allowing individuals to benefit from the life-changing impact of higher education. Research studies over the years have affirmed this positive impact–over 88 percent of individuals who attain a college degree move out of poverty”

- WRI Press relase

We congratulate Welfare Rights Initiative for their lastest victory and look forward to seeing what kind of future accomplishments WRI trailblazers will create in the years to come

This summer the MYD Education Committee began a series of education discussions focused on exploring current approaches being presented in the debate to reform education. Our goal was to evaluate how leaders were meeting the challenge of improving current practices and upgrading the existing infrastructure to close the learning gap for all children regardless of race, culture or economics.

If you’re interested in learning more or becoming part of our committee just email Ahmed at education@gomyd.com

Lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch have urged the governor to a consider a range of borrowing plans. Mr. Ravitch, whom Mr. Paterson appointed last year, has sought to link a bond sale to tighter fiscal controls, but legislators have balked.

The state has been running without a budget since the beginning of the fiscal year on April 1. The Paterson administration has pressured lawmakers to approve chunks of an estimated $130 billion spending plan. But lawmakers have adopted only a fraction of the cuts and taxes that Mr. Paterson has proposed.

But the governor will have none of it: “I will not sign a budget that has any deficit financing in it.” Why?

The rejection of borrowing to close the gap is needed to show the public that “we are not pushing any problems of today off into the future,” Mr. Paterson said.

Mr. Paterson, who isn’t seeking election in November, said the state will continue to face budget pressure after his term is completed at year-end. Federal stimulus money runs out this year and in 2012 the three-year increase in the top tax rate for individuals earning more than $200,000 will expire, he said.

Assuming this year’s deficit is bridged as Mr. Paterson proposed, the budget gap for the year beginning April 1, 2011, would be $5.39 billion, according to state projections. That gap would be larger if this year’s deficit was closed by additional one-time actions not sought by Mr. Paterson, such as bond sales.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat like Paterson and front-runner in November’s gubernatorial election, also opposes selling bonds to close the deficit.