Donovan Richards

Flanked by a coterie of elected officials, Donovan Richards declared victory last night in a wide-open, eight-way Queens City Council special election. Seven miles south, Pesach Osina did the same exact thing.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Richards leads Mr. Osina by just 26 votes, easily making the 31st District race too close for observers to call. Vote counting ceased at midnight and will resume today, but at last glance, Mr. Richards had 2,513 votes to Mr. Osina's 2,487. In addition to a potentially missing memory stick from a ballot scanner, absentee and paper ballots still need to be counted. A recount is also likely, but each candidate acted like the undisputed victors nevertheless.

"I'm calling on the community tonight to put aside their differences. Those who ran in this election, let's not be bitter against each other," Mr. Richards said at a bustling lounge in Laurelton, Queens. "If you are really for the community, if you are truly for the community, whether it is the Orthodox Jewish community, whether it is the African-American community, whether it is the Jamaican community, whether it is the Haitian community, whether it is our white brothers and sisters, I am calling on you to get your hands dirty and get in here. And let's make sure we are not losing young people to this gun violence on these streets."

"And let's stop the foolish conversation of two councilmen in the district. The numbers do not lie, we've seen the numbers, we have declared victory tonight, we are victorious and we are ready to march on," Mr. Richards later added.

For his part, Mr. Osina declared victory even before Mr. Richards did.

"While we are still uncertain of the total numbers, when every vote is counted, we will be victorious," Mr. Osina told his supporters. "This was an honest, fair race and I would like to thank my opponents for everything they have done on behalf of the community."

The race grew heated when a fiery clergyman, Bishop Charles Norris, controversially called for several of the black candidates to step aside in the race so Mr. Osina, the only white and Jewish contender, would not win. The district, which includes an Orthodox Jewish enclave in Far Rockaway, is 68 percent black and Mr. Norris quite bluntly argued that Mr. Osina, a former staffer to Queens Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, could not serve its needs. None heeded his call, however, and the district's Jewish community rallied around Mr. Osina in response. Their ambitious get-out-the-vote effort, which included a roving sound truck playing Hebrew-language songs on Mr. Osina's behalf, seemed to pay off, matching Mr. Richards's superior fundraising and bevy of labor endorsements.

An automatic recount is mandated by state law if the final margin is less than 0.5 percent of the total vote. As of this writing, that would mean approximately 41 votes, although the number is subject to change as absentee and affidavit ballots are tabulated, or if the occasionally unpredictable Board of Elections further adjusts the final number.

New York City politicos may remember a similarly heated situation last year when Brooklyn State Senate candidates Lew Fidler and David Storobin both declared victory in their own special election. In that race, after 22,000 votes cast and multiple months of counting and litigation, Mr. Storobin prevailed by a mere 13 votes. Time will tell if Mr. Osina and Mr. Richards face that level of drama, but regardless, whoever wins will have only a short time in office before having to face the voters again in the city's regularly scheduled September primary.

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell.

Selvena Brooks (Photo: Facebook)

A candidate for City Council in a Sandy-ravaged Far Rockaway district is running on a hurricane-themed party line. Selvena Brooks is filing petitions to get on the ballot under the name of the "Rebuild Now" party.

Ms. Brooks, a communications specialist with the Service Employees International Union, will join a crowded field the special election to replace James Sanders in the 31st District. Mr. Sanders left his seat open after moving on to the State Senate in the last round of elections. Because New York City special elections are non-partisan, candidates like Ms. Brooks can more easily campaign outside of the two-party system.

“I am asking for people’s support on the Rebuild Now line, because we need strong leadership in not only rebuilding from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, but also rebuilding our education system, local economy and neighborhoods,” Ms. Brooks said in a statement.

The election, set for Feb. 19, has attracted a slew of candidates. Mr. Sanders’ former chief of staff, Donovan Richards, is a considered the front runner. However, Ms. Brooks, who has worked in the State Senate, will be one of several candidates with legitimate credentials in the race including; Attorney Jacques Leandre, community activist Mike Duncan, marketing firm head Earnest Flowers, Community Board 8 District Manager Marie Adam-Ovide and Pesach Osina, a staffer of Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder.

The district ropes in southeast Queens and Far Rockaway, which was hit particularly hard by Sandy. It has an African-American majority, but there is a sizable Orthodox Jewish community in Far Rockaway. A source with knowledge of the area told Politicker there are about 3,500 Orthodox registered voters, which could make Mr. Osina, who is also Orthodox Jewish, an intriguing dark horse candidate. Turnout in the election is expected to be low.

Rockaway, Queens. (Photo: Getty)

Earlier this afternoon, "a group of irate Orthodox community leaders" held a conference call to protest poll site changes implemented in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens. In the call, local Jewish leaders alleged their new voting location was designed to dampen turnout in their ideologically conservative community as it struggles to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy's devastation.

"We're a group of people who really, really suffered tremendously," Richard Altabe, a board member of the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, said. "Or voting rights are about to be taken away from us. It's going to be difficult enough to get people to vote....Our ability to speak and have our voices heard is going to be squashed by circumstances. I'm really, really horrified."

The new poll site in Far Rockaway, the leaders said, was a mile away from their current one. Eli Shapiro, of the Far Rockaway Jewish Alliance, claimed they presented a closer, alternative site to the Board of Elections but were shut down

"We've been told that the Democratic commissioner won't sign off on the change of location," Mr. Shapiro said, but he was unable to elaborate further on the specifics.

Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Altabe both represent organizations that formally endorsed GOP Councilman Eric Ulrich's campaign against Democratic Senator Joe Addabbo, which is among the most highly-watched in the entire state. Mr. Ulrich's campaign organized the conference call.

"Absolutely. Why else did they do that? Why else would they disenfranchise a community?" Mr. Altabe said when asked if it was a conspiracy to boost Mr. Addabbo's reelection bid. "I would not like to believe that Joe Addabbo himself would want such a thing. Even though we supported one candidate over the other, we don't believe Joe Addabbo to be an evil person."

Others have also sounded the alarm over the BOE's Election Day plans tomorrow, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg. As of this writing, the Board took down their list of poll site changes online, and the hotline number for more information, 1-866-VOTE-NYC, results in a dial tone. An alternative number provided by good goverment groups, 1-866-OUR-VOTE, is available, however.

BOE Commissioner J.C. Polanco said his agency is working "around the clock" to ensure all New Yorkers can vote tomorrow.