Great Neck protesters urges library trustee election count despite lawsuit

A group of residents rallied outside the Great Neck Library main building Sunday to demand a full count of all votes from the Oct. 31 library trustee election, which stalled when two candidates filed a lawsuit objecting to the legitimacy of several proxy votes.

“We’re a community and we have a process in place,” said Sabine Margolis, who helped organize the demonstration. “That process will clearly highlight which [candidates] should be elected and that’s the process we should take.”

Margolis, 57, of Thomaston, and about 20 other local residents held up signs and sang songs demanding that every vote be counted in the election for the two seats. The demonstration, protesters said, was prompted by the lawsuit filed by two candidates, Jessica Hughes and Christina Rusu, that claims there were irregularities in the election.

Hughes is challenging incumbent Liman Mimi Hu for her seat. Rusu, Karen Hirsch-Romero, and Rory Lancman are vying for a vacant seat on the board. The suit names the Great Neck Library District, Hu, Hirsch-Romero, and Lancman. It also names Sara Rivka-Khodadadian and Kim Schader, who are vying for a seat on the nominating committee.

“For a library vote, we thought this would be smooth,” said William Kazer, 72, of Great Neck, who attended the protest. “This latest election seems to be a long cultural divide and unfortunately the library gets caught in the middle. I’m just concerned that [the lawsuit] will waste money that could go to a lot of other things.”

Supporters of the two slates of candidates have broken down along culture war lines, with Hu, Lancman and Schader backed by those who advocated for specific diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and content in the library, and supported maintaining book collections on LGBTQ issues, while Hughes, Rusu and Rivka-Khodadadian were supported by those who spoke of parental rights and others who warned of pornography or other content they deemed inappropriate in the library.

The petition, filed on Nov. 7 in state Supreme Court in Nassau, seeks to have several proxies, or absentee ballots, reviewed by the court.

The plaintiffs state that the election irregularities include some voters being turned away because of long lines. The library board election appeared to have garnered a record turnout, with more than 3,500 votes cast.

John J. Ciampoli, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, and Hughes, said in a phone call that proxy votes cast after the deadline or those that were not properly submitted are examples of votes that should be disqualified.

“We want every legal vote counted,” Ciampoli said. “The court has the power to review the process, to review the individual ballots and if need be to order an election to be done over, if they find it was done improperly.”

The Great Neck Library said on its website: "Great Neck election results are not available at this time. There is a stay of election due to litigation. The Great Neck Library will continue to work with all candidates and judicial authorities to certify results."

As of election night, Hughes had 1,718 votes to Hu’s 1,468 votes, according to the petition. Rusu, Lancman and Hirsch-Romero had 1,597, 1,443 and 0 votes respectively, on election night.

“I think it’s a beautiful thing that people are committed to our democracy and our library, and they want their votes counted,” Lancman said regarding the Sunday’ rally. 

Rusu declined to comment.