Suffolk legislator wants primary recount

Suffolk Legis. Louis D'Amaro (D-North Babylon) said he'll call Friday for the county elections board to do a hand recount of the 172 paper ballots cast in Tuesday's primary in his 17th District race for the Independence line.

If refused, he said he will go to court.

D'Amaro lost to Dennis Garetano by 18 votes, in unofficial results. He said he's bothered that he was ahead in the tally posted by the elections board Tuesday, then was told by elections officials Wednesday morning that he had lost and then told Wednesday afternoon that he had lost by a different set of numbers.

The elections department had problems Tuesday night in transferring cast votes from voting machines to vote tabulating machines. The problems led to a delay in posting the results until Wednesday afternoon.

Elections supervisors Anita Katz and Wayne Rogers have not returned calls. They issued a statement Wednesday saying the tabulating machines worked properly.