Nassau ballot count undulates across the county

Wednesday November 18, 2009 3:21 PM By William Murphy

Looking at the shifting totals in the count of absentee and other paper ballots in Nassau County is somewhat like looking at the results very early on Election Night, say half an hour after the polls close.

They tell you very little if you don’t know where they’re coming from — a candidate’s weak area, strong area or swing area.

The ballots during the initial part of the Nassau count come from the 12th Assembly District, a heavily Republican area centered in Massapequa where the Republican candidate for county executive, Edward Mangano, did well.

By the close of business Monday, Mangano had picked up an additional 100 votes or so, and led by 554.

As the count moved to the 20th Assembly District late Tuesday, Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi started doing better, picking up 19 votes before the end of the day, but not all the votes have been registered in the board’s computer system yet.

“We did the beast first,” said one Democrat, referring to the 12th AD. “We should start making inroads when we do the 20th. If we don’t, we’re in trouble.

The teams started counting the 17th AD, centered in Republican Garden City, at midday Wednesday. The Democratic 18th AD centered in the Village of is next to be counted.