I believe that we were badly hurt by our placement on the voting machines. In my case, the regular party candidates were listed in columns A-E. The order was Republican, Democratic, Independence, Conservative, Liberal. After that, columns F and G were blank. This was because the minor parties such as the Greens did not bother to run candidates. I was way over in the right hand corner in column H.
Annette Robinson, who won election, was listed twice, as a Democratic and as an Independence Party candidate. Arthur Bramwell, who got only 231 votes, was also listed twice, as a Republican and as a Conservative.
I feel certain that I campaigned harder than any other candidate. Arthur Bramwell, who is 82 years old, never left his home, declined interviews and did not campaign at all. Still, Republican Party workers campaigned for him up until election day.
I ran TV ads, sent e-mails, posted a web site, debated the two other active candidates, handed out leaflets and spoke to people on the street. No other candidate did all that. However, all of the others had run many times before in this district and were much better known.
When I went into the voting booth, I did not see my name for a while. I kept looking and finally I saw it way over on the right hand corner, far away from the other candidates.
Other voters told me that they intended to vote for me but could not see my name anywhere.
Anyone planning to vote for me had to search hard to find my name. There was no possibility to pick up any random or accidental votes.
Print was small and right justified. I have 20/20 vision when I am wearing my glasses. If I had not had my glasses on, I would not have been able to see my name.
The results were published on page 2 of the New York Post for yesterday, February 13, 2002.
I have been unable to find any mention of the results in The New York Times, the New York Daily News or Newsday.
The results are on the web at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny-sthou-contesteda0213feb13.story
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny-stsen-contesteda0213feb13.story
These are unofficial results. As best I can determine, the local police stations reported these results to AP. The police were present at every voting booth and, after the polls closed, picked up the votes and took them to the local police stations.
The Board of Elections will not release official results for several days. The official count has not started yet. It will start after the voting machines have been returned to the Board of Elections.
We should not feel too bad about this. After all, John Ravitz spent $1.6 million running in this election, and yet lost by a wide margin. Rivitz got 17,727 votes, so each vote cost him about $100.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02132002/news/regionalnews/41371.htm
Sam Sloan
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