Drucker, Lafazan reelected to Nassau legislature, Democratic Party chief says

Nassau County Legislators Arnold Drucker (D-Plainview) and Joshua Lafazan, a Woodbury independent who caucuses with Democrats, have been reelected after a count of absentee ballots put them over the top, Nassau Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs said Monday.

Early Monday, election officials in Nassau began counting 23,373 absentee and affidavit ballots. That total was composed largely of absentees.

Officials also began counting 198 emergency ballots that could affect outcomes in marquee races.

Individuals who are not on poll lists when they arrive to vote may vote with affidavit ballots. After the election, boards of election check their records, and if the voter is eligible and was at the correct poll site, their vote is counted.

Emergency ballots often are cast when a voting machine jams.

There was no update Monday in the absentee ballot count in the race for county executive, in which Republican Bruce Blakeman led Democratic incumbent Laura Curran by 11,834 votes on election night.

Of the absentee and affidavit ballots, 13,022 were returned by Democrats, 6,655 by Republicans and 2,978 were from voters not affiliated with a political party.

Blakeman, 66, a member of the Hempstead Town Council, has declared victory in the county executive's race and has started to plan for a first term.

Curran, 53, the first female Nassau County executive, has not conceded the election.

James Scheuerman, Nassau's Democratic elections commissioner, told Newsday he expected all absentee ballots to be counted by Tuesday night.

Lafazan, 27, was trailing Republican Paolo Pironi, 33, of Brookville, by 245 votes on election night, according to unofficial returns.

After absentees were counted, Lafazan led Pironi by 7,733 votes to 7,513, Scheuerman said.

"It's been a long and nerve-wracking 12 days," Lafazan told Newsday.

Drucker, 64, of Plainview, was trailing Republican Daniel Alter by 253 votes on election night, but led by 406 votes after absentees were counted Monday, Scheuerman said.

Drucker said he was, "happy and grateful the outcome was what I hoped and expected it would be."

Asked about the Drucker and Lafazan races, Michael Deery, spokesman for the Nassau Republican Committee, said it, "appears that they have prevailed in their races for reelection."

Republicans have an 11-8 majority in the county legislature.

The GOP picked up a seat on election night when party member Mazi Melesa Pilip, a first-time candidate, beat incumbent Democrat Ellen Birnbaum in the 10th District.

Jacobs, also the state Democratic chairman, said, "with more and more people voting by absentee, and absentees tending to lean Democratic, calling elections on election night has its difficulties, because the Republicans can claim a lot of victories sometimes only to find they evaporate when you count all the votes."

Jacobs predicted the county executive's race would get, "a lot closer. At the end of the day, it's certainly an uphill battle that I don't want to predict. There's certainly an outside chance that Laura can win."

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.