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Friday, November 25, 2022
Vol. 97, No. 47
GUIDE TO SMALL CALLS FOR BIZ SATURDAY TRADER JOE’S
COMEDY FOR A CAUSE
PAGES 25-32
PAGE 21
PAGES 2
COVID further delays count of library votes
LES MIS
Absentee, proxy ballots challenged by candidates to be tallied Monday BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z Vote counting in the Great Neck Library trustee election will resume on Monday, following challenges and a lawsuit put forward by a pair of candidates, officials announced late Thursday. Trustee candidates Jessica Hughes and Christina Rusu filed a legal complaint against the library and their opponents, citing concerns about the legitimacy of absentee ballots that have not yet been counted on Nov. 7. Court documents showed that a stipulation of discontinuance was filed on Thursday. Hughes is running against incumbent board President Liman Mimi Hu, while Rusu is running against Rory Lancman and Karen Hirsch-Romero for another seat on the board. Sara Khodadadian is running against Kim Schader for an expiring seat on the library’s nominating committee. Both seats on the board have fouryear terms and the committee seat is a three-year term. Hughes and Rusu previously filed objections to halt the count of 37 proxy ballots, according to Hu and Lancman. A total of 24 of the objected proxy votes were sent by individuals with East Asian or South Asian surnames, Lanc-
man said. The counting of the votes is frozen until a court hearing scheduled for Wednesday. The stipulation says that a bipartisan team of qualified officers from the Nassau County Board of Elections will resume the counting of votes. Hu, Lancman and Schader, in a joint statement, said the vote-counting will resume Monday. “The three of us are absolutely committed to defending our neighbors’ right to have their votes counted, and will oppose any objections made on Monday that deny these rights,” the statement said. “We are grateful for all the support and encouragement we have received from so many people of all walks of life from New Hyde Park to Kings Point, and every community in between.” Efforts to reach Hughes, Rusu or their attorney John Ciampoli of Messina Perillo and Hill LLP, for comment were unavailing. The lawsuit also advocated for analyzing the library’s method for issuing, reviewing, distributing, processing and preserving absentee ballots to ensure it was proper. More than 3,000 in-person votes were tallied at the election machines on Election Day from 10 a.m.- 10 p.m. while more than 330 proxy votes were Continued on Page 46
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GREAT NECK SCHOOL DISTRICT
Great Neck North High School put on performances of “Les Misérables” last week.
Dems, GOP deadlock on Nassau redistricting BY R OB E RT PE L A E Z AND STEVEN KEEHNER
resolutions to submit maps to the county’s Republican-controlled legislature Monday night, prompting The Nassau County Temporary Democratic officials to say they anDistricting Advisory Commission ticipate litigation to be filed. The 11-member committee voted along party lines for a pair of
made up of five Democrats, five Republicans and one nonvoting chairman, voted along party lines, 5-5, for each of their submissions. The Republicans, who presented Continued on Page 47
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