Katz Takes Lead in Queens District Attorney Race

July 15th, 2019

Election night results seemed to indicate a shocking upset in the Queens District Attorney race with Tiffany Cabán holding a 1,090 vote lead over establishment candidate Melinda Katz. However, after the counting of absentee ballots last week, the lead has changed to a slight 16 vote edge for Katz. It is unusual for absentee ballots to diverge from election night percentages so dramatically, especially in a race with so many candidates on the ballot.

Such a slim margin will automatically trigger a full manual recount which will begin after a court battle to decide the fate of affidavit ballots that were deemed by the board of elections to be invalid. It is not uncommon for a manual recount to change the vote totals for all candidates as votes intended for candidates – but not readable by the machines (such as a check mark instead of filling in the bubble) – will be counted toward that candidates total.