Polling the people

June 25, 2020

Daily Point

Regents designing state’s education vehicle in midair

Wednesday the state’s education Regents wrapped up their fourth and final task force addressing how schools will operate in the fall with a session focused on the downstate area, including Long Island. The conclusion, according to Long Island Regent Roger Tilles: Time, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, will tell.

But the Regents, as they consider how to get the K-12 students educated next year, have at least been treated to a trove of information on what parents think, thanks to an in-depth study conducted by survey company Thoughtexchange that compiled input from 60,000 New York respondents to find areas of concern and commonality, along with preferences.

“The truth is, we are not in charge of whether kids go back to campus, or stay at home, or do a combination,” Tilles said. “That’s the governor’s call, and he’ll be listening to the Department of Health, I imagine. What we’ve been tasked with doing is devising plans for all three possibilities.”

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—Lane Filler @lanefiller

Talking Point

Suffolk Dems look to expedite the ballot-counting process

With all eyes on thousands of absentee ballots in Suffolk County, Democrats have made some commitments in support of as quick a count as possible, says the county party.

The argument is that a slow-and-chaotic count would only help Republicans like Rep. Lee Zeldin. A June 10 email to primary candidates from Matt Jennings, executive director of the Suffolk County Democratic Committee, outlines two options for how the count could go.

Option one is a count of all ballots by Board of Elections staff “using the ballot scanning machines in Yaphank,” the email says. “The other option would be a hand count of all ballots at the Board,” including representatives from the campaigns watching along. “This process could take months.”

Jennings told The Point on Thursday that the candidates in SD1, AD2, and CD1 agreed to option one, with machine counting as opposed to campaign reps looking over each ballot. (The exception was Gregory-John Fischer, the CD1 candidate who hardly campaigned and did not reply to the Democrats’ email or an inquiry from The Point.)

Option one would be the quicker option, and party chair Rich Schaffer sent a valedictory statement to The Point on Thursday about the spirit of cooperation: “I wanted to let you know that all our candidates have responded to the below email and agreed not to hire lawyers and let the Board of Elections count ballots as quickly as possible.”

In that June 10 email, the party warns that “If one side decides to slow down the process with lawyers and challenges, then all sides will suffer,” but the two counting options presented to candidates don’t include direct commitments about swearing off lawyers entirely.

That may prove a crucial distinction in tight races like the one for the 1st Congressional District. Representatives for the three leading candidates confirmed their agreement with the first counting option.

But a campaign that did not want to be identified told The Point that if it’s close after the initial count, then it would explore its options.

New York election law has plenty of peculiarities that tend to encourage candidates to call lawyers. Ballots can be challenged for stray marks. If you think that you're going to need a court to rule on the results of a close primary, then you need a lawyer to file a case within 10 days. So it remains to be seen whether it will be a fully lawyerless election season for Suffolk Democrats.

—Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

Slow it down

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Final Point

Virtual fundraising a boon for Biden

It’s a new world of fundraising for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.

“They’ve adjusted to virtual platforms and that has actually increased the pace,” says former Rep. Steve Israel, the former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head who now directs Cornell’s Institute of Politics and Global Affairs.

New York, and Long Island specifically, is typically a fundraising mecca. Israel says he recently co-hosted a virtual Biden fundraiser that involved Long Islanders given his LI-heavy donor list. New Yorker Andrew Yang has one coming up for Biden on July 7 along with Sen. Tammy Duckworth, according to an invitation obtained by The Point, which includes contribution levels from the $5,600 “Champion” to $25 “Young Professional.”

Recent fundraisers hosted by New Yorkers include one by Tony James of the Blackstone Group and Jay Snyder of HBJ Investments, according to pool reports from the Biden campaign.

The pool reports indicate that Biden can pull off multiple of these events in a week, which can feature short remarks, questions, a virtual photo line and Biden attending via his Delaware porch, trees swaying in the background.

One prominent New York fundraiser tells The Point the virtual fundraisers, with essentially no organizational cost and broader reach, have been surprisingly successful.

Israel calls them “much better” and more “civil and efficient” than regular events. The former congressman, who wrote a 2016 New York Times op-ed about his frustrations with constant fundraising, says the live events can be “cattle calls” with long photo lines, and difficult logistics regarding travel for the politician and guests, food and drinks.

Then there’s the pre-meeting between the candidate and hosts that can hold everything up. Sometimes people try to sneak into it. That can be harder online. In a virtual fundraiser, the co-hosts get their moment in gallery-mode, a little online “green room.”

But hey, you can wear jeans.