Since Election Day, the reported outcome of the race for Town of Hempstead Councilwoman Linda Reed's seat has changed almost daily. On the night of the elections, Democrat challenger Rita Kestenbaum was considered the unofficial victor in the race until just before sunrise of the next day when Linda Reed was then named the unofficial winner. The election was considered too close to call officially and it was announced that there would be a recanvassing of the votes and the absentee ballots and affadavits would be critical in determining the final outcome. Since then there has been a flood of conflicting reports over every detail of this race.

Following the election, Newsday reported that "sources," which were never identified, had revealed that because of a tally mix-up, the numbers which showed Linda Reed as the unofficial winner were false, and Rita Kestenbaum had won. Calls were placed to the Board of Elections by Anton Community Newspapers to determine the accuracy of these new reports. As of Monday, Nov. 8, the Board of Elections was officially stating that there was no record of a tally mix-up and that their official numbers were the same. According to the board, Reed was still the unoffical winner, leading by 318 votes.

Last Wednesday, Rita Kestenbaum spoke with this paper and announced that she was told by Democratic Commissioner Barbara Patton of the Nassau County Board of Elections that she was the unofficial winner. Newsday later last week reprinted its reports about a tally mix-up, quoting an employee at the Board of Elections, but Patton told us on Wednesday, "In this case there was no tally mix-up or key punch error. The reason we're now saying Kestenbaum won is that we've counted the absentee ballots and affadavits and she has not only won the seat, but she has received the second highest number of votes in the election. We will still be recanvassing the machines next week [a process scheduled to begin at press time] and we'll see the official numbers then, but with the results we have now, Kestenbaum is the winner."

The numbers before the affadavits and absentee ballots were counted were listed by the Nassau County Board of Elections as the unofficial results and had Reed with 56,454 votes and Kestenbaum with 56,136 votes. Representatives from the Board of Elections had told Anton Community Newspapers early last week that they will be recanvassing, meaning that they will be opening up all the machines, looking at the numbers, adding them up again, to ensure the validity of the results and that the machines had been impounded. Patton stated, however, "The machines were not impounded. That never happened. What happened was that the night of the elections there was a storm and some of the polling places did lose power and the machines have to be checked. We'll be doing recanvassing of all of the machines, which have been transported here to the board, but they were not impounded. Kestenbaum has a significant enough lead, though, that it seems that the recanvassing will show Kestenbaum has won."

Republican Commissioner of the Nassau County Board of Elections John DeGrace could not be reached by press time, but Tony Santino, a spokesman for the Nassau Republican Party, noted that he does not know from where Newsday had gotten their figures. Of the recanvassing process, Santino stated, "They have the numbers that come in on election night and then they go back and begin to check and sometimes there could be mistakes on some of the reporting sheets and that changes the numbers around." He added that they will have to wait until the Board of Elections has recanvassed all the machines before they have a final count.

The Town of Hempstead elections made history when Democrats Dorothy Goosby and N. Scott Banks won seats on the board, replacing Robert Barra and Gary Hudes, who were appointed to Town Board in late July. No Democrat has held a position on the Town of Hempstead Board since 1907.

Reed, who was appointed to the Town Board in January 1998 and was re-elected last November, was running for her first four-year full term on the board.

Reed stated, "According to the Board of Elections, they are still going over all the election results and I'm just waiting for the outcome."

Reed concluded, "I thank all the people who supported me and I enjoy working with the residents of the Town of Hempstead and we're just going to wait it out and see what the results next week bring."

Kestenbaum spoke to this paper after having been told she won, although nothing is official until the recanvassing is completed. She commented, "I am pleased to have won and am very pleased for the people of this town also, because they deserved a change. I look forward to serving the residents of this town. I have to say that I am excited to have come in second, following Goosby, and I am really looking forward to getting a chance to work with Dorothy Goosby and Scott Banks on the board. They're both great candidates and I know that we'll be able to do great things for the Town of Hempstead."

Whether Reed will return to the Board or Kestenbaum will be sworn-in with her fellow Democratic candidates on Jan. 1 remains to be seen. Results from the recanvassing will not be released until later this week and will be reported in the next issue of this paper. No matter how this election turns out, this has been a frustrating time for both candidates and their supporters as the official word flip-flops routinely and nothing official can be determined until all of the votes are counted, recounted, and validated. With affadavits, for example, any stray marks on the form render it invalid and it is then discounted. This has been a grueling process and a trying time for information providers and those waiting for that information as each of the reports circulating contradict each other.