LI's schadenfreude over NYC election botch

Daily Point

It can’t happen here

In the wake of the New York City Board of Elections’ vote-tabulation debacle, Long Island officials on Tuesday were happy to shake their heads and say why it wouldn’t happen here.

The gist of the city’s mistake was that when preliminary ranked choice results were released, the BOE included "both test and election night results," according to the agency’s late-night Tuesday statement. That produced some 135,000 additional ballots.

More details about what happened and why are still coming out. But Nassau Democratic elections commissioner Jim Scheuerman said in a text that the county board has "procedures in place to avoid issues where unforced human errors can come into play," including "multi-layered personnel checks of the data we are entering."

If the board was going to test ballots in the system, Scheuerman said they would "likely use different names" for candidates, like Sesame Street characters. (No word if Cookie Monster would be a Republican or Democrat.)

Suffolk GOP elections commissioner Nick LaLota told The Point that test results are zeroed out from machines before elections, and "we don’t have any external inputs into our website reporting," meaning that upon release of results, machine totals for early and election day voting go right to the website.

The city fiasco prompted some shade from Long Island’s county executives.

"Ensuring confidence in the election process is a critical responsibility for every municipality," Nassau Democrat Laura Curran said in a statement. "I am proud to say that in Nassau County our BOE staff performed with excellence and precision during this past primary election."

The imbroglio also gave Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone a chance to renew his call for overhauling the state’s current election management system, replacing party-organized boards with "an independent, professionalized office."

"This isn’t just a New York City problem," the West Babylon Democrat said in a Wednesday statement. "This should apply to EVERY Board of Elections across the State — including right here in Suffolk County — with jobs based solely on merit."

It’s the kind of proposal that has been floated before in Albany, without much traction. And the city BOE will surely slog to an accurate finish long before any systemic changes come about.

"I am confident that the right result will ultimately be revealed," LaLota said, noting that "in New York State we require a paper trail with every vote," lots of campaign election lawyers will be closely watching, and a bipartisan team certifies every vote.

It just might take a while.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Talking Point

Not your typical road map

The Twitter account for the Library of Congress’ Geography and Map Division tweeted out a gem for Long Island commuters earlier this week: an 1885 map of New York City including a detailed, close look at the suburban rail lines out to Nassau and Suffolk counties.

The hi-resolution image is fun to explore, so The Point asked the LOC’s maps shop for more of its historical Long Island maps that can be accessed digitally.

Library reference specialist Cynthia Smith sent along close to 100.

That includes an 1884 map of neat red railroad lines all the way out to Greenport, and a travellers map of the whole Island from 1857.

There are "aero" or "bird’s-eye" views of Patchogue, Lindenhurst, Freeport and other municipalities from the early 20th Century, drawn with incredible detail down to water towers and chimneys.

There is Revolutionary War-era material, including a "Plan of the East Part of Long Island Sound from Remarks made on board His Majesty's Ship the Lark, A.D. 1777," a painstakingly drafted piece which includes some 20 lines of navigation instructions about shoals, nautical dangers, and places for "good wooding."

Some of the most intriguing are fading non-military specimens from the 18th century that include soundings shown in fathoms, crucial for the time. The notations from early periods often make clear what an unknown world Long Island was to relative newcomers: see the "New and accurate Map of Connecticut and Rhode Island, from the best Authorities" from a 1788 periodical.

These segments do not comprise all of the library’s LI map collections, according to Smith: there are also uncatalogued historical maps that have not been digitized.

Take a look at the pre-iPhone cartography here.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Cherry on top

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Final Point

Buttigieg tours our tunnels

When Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg took a train ride through the tunnels under the Hudson River this week, the idea was to show Buttigieg just how important it was to build a new tunnel to replace the one badly damaged by superstorm Sandy.

But with tunnels on their minds, the conversation between Schumer and Buttigieg took an eastern turn, as Schumer also raised the need for similar massive repairs to the East River Tunnels that hundreds of Long Island Rail Road trains traverse every day.

Behind the visit to promote the Gateway Project is the ongoing debate over President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure effort. The LIRR tunnels are "just as critical" as the ones under the Hudson, Schumer spokesman Angelo Roefaro told The Point. He said Schumer hopes some of the money from the infrastructure bill will go not only to Gateway, but to the East River project as well. Schumer already has gotten about $400 million in federal funds allocated to the East River Tunnel, but he’s hoping for more. Amtrak has estimated that the entire fix could come to $1 billion.

"While Gateway was the backdrop of the far better narrative for transit, the East River Tunnels were a side dish and definitely on the menu," Roefaro said. "This was a chance to crystalize what a giant bill means for certain parts of the country."

Besides giving Buttigieg the chance to see the decay of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor tunnels up close, the visit also showed just how much has changed in the federal Department of Transportation which, under President Donald Trump, stalled Gateway and other regional projects.

"Pete Buttigieg looks at transit in a way that makes Chuck excited about the projects he’s talked about for years," Roefaro said. "An agency that previously was wanting to impede New York, is now making it happen."

That, of course, is still easier said than done. Next stop: An infrastructure bill that can get through Congress.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

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