Locals contribute to recount

In one of the closest races in Nassau County history, Republican Ed Mangano defeated two-term incumbent County Executive Thomas Suozzi by fewer than 400 votes. The race was so close that it necessitated a recount, and local party supporters volunteered their time at the county Board of Elections in order to determine the winner.

Dominick Minerva Jr., a Valley Stream resident and attorney who is a partner at Minerva & D’Agostino on Central Avenue, said that the historic nature of the election compelled him to be a part of the recount. “I thought it would be interesting to be part of a close race and help in the process,” Minerva said.

He volunteered for three days during the two-week recount process, working four-hours shifts. During the recount, he explained, three people — a Republican, a Democrat and an impartial attorney — sifted through the ballots, looking for discrepancies. They checked to see whether signatures on absentee ballots matched those on registration cards and whether ballots were properly witnessed, and looked for any errant marks on the ballots. Minerva, a registered Republican, said that working with Democrats during the recount presented no problems. “It was a pleasant experience and quite cordial,” he said.

Another Valley Stream resident, Eleanor Sciglibaglio, the Board of Elections’ Democratic deputy commissioner, said she thought the recount went fairly smoothly. Considering what was at stake, Sciglibaglio added, both sides worked cooperatively and professionally. “Once they lost the initial fear of each other, things were more pleasant,” she said. “You would have expected their nerves would have been more raw than they were.”

Town Councilman Ed Ambrosino of North Valley Stream said he has been friends with Mangano for 14 years, so he volunteered at the Board of Elections for a few days. “I think it was a fair and thorough process,” Ambrosino said of the recount, adding that he thought Republicans and Democrats worked well together and that their differences were put aside for the good of the county.

Steven Reddan, an attorney in Rockville Centre and Valley Stream’s deputy prosecutor, said he is friends with John DeGrace, the Republican elections commissioner, and thought the Board of Elections would need a hand with the recount, so he volunteered to help. Reddan said he also volunteered three years ago, when Village Justice Robert Bogle ran unsuccessfully for Nassau County Family Court and a recount was undertaken, so he was familiar with the process.

Reddan described it as “tedious” but noted that volunteers of both parties worked cooperatively. “Given the contentiousness and what was at stake, I thought it was pretty cordial,” Reddan said. “It could have been much more, but it wasn’t.”