Disputed Victor Election Hits Courtroom

By Bud Lowell

Canandaigua, NY – A State Supreme Court judge scheduled another hearing for Friday afternoon in the still-undecided election for supervisor in the Town of Victor.

Judge John Ark met with attorneys for Republican Leslie Bamann (BAY-man) and Democrat Heather Zollo in the Ontario County Courthouse in Canandaigua Tuesday afternoon. He also moved the hearing at one point to the Ontario County Board of Elections, where he examined a voting machine that Zollo's lawyer says failed to properly count at least three votes for her client.

Attorney Sheila Chalifaux (SHALL-i-foh) argued that a ballot strip on the machine was off by one space, causing some Zollo voters to cast their votes on the wrong lever.

But Attorney Robert Shadduck, who represents Bamann, says the results from that machine are within the normal range of erroneous votes in past elections. He says elections inspectors will testify nothing was wrong with the machine.

The election hinges on those three machine votes, and on ten absentee ballots that weren't counted election night because of technical errors in how they were filled out.

If Judge Ark says those absentee and affidavit ballots can be counted, Bamann's supporters believe she'll win. If the paper ballots aren't counted and the machine votes are, Zollo is the likely winner.

Bamann currently leads by two votes following an official recanvass by the Ontario County Board of Elections.

Bamann's counsel argues that nothing was wrong with the voting machine, and the absentee ballots shouldn't be thrown out just because some voters made minor errors in filling them out.

Zollo's lawyer says state election law is very specific and requires the ballots to be invalidated. But she says a paper strip holding the candidate's names on the disputed voting machine was somehow out of position on election day, causing some voters to be unable to vote for Zollo.

That machine was pulled by elections inspectors after 45 people used it, and replaced with a new one. The machine remains under lock and key.

Judge Ark gave both sides 48 hours to submit summaries of their positions and scheduled another hearing for 2:00 Friday afternoon.

At that time he could open the disputed absentee ballots, or schedule testimony from witnesses.