Vote of no confidence from losing candidate

New York Daily News  10 October 2004

A defeated Democratic Assembly candidate in Brooklyn has charged voter tampering and may challenge her opponent's victory.

Inna Kaminsky, who lost to incumbent Adele Cohen in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary for the 46th District (Bay Ridge, Brighton Beach, Coney Island), is considering filing a complaint with the Board of Elections.

"I am concerned because I know there was cheating at the polling places," charged Kaminsky, who emigrated from Odessa and received 42% of the vote in the heavily Russian district.

"Six hundred people walked into the machines, but never pushed the button and walked out," she said. "What happened to them?"

Alan Rocoff, Kaminsky's attorney, said he "heard anecdotally that some Russian interpreters were fired and as a result, many Russian voters might not have been able to vote."

He added, "We've been told that the public counter number does not match the number of votes cast."

Kaminsky also alleged that many Russian-speaking voters weren't allowed to cast paper ballots, even though they were registered Democrats.

"One woman's name was not on the list, so they told her to leave, even though she had voted in the previous primary," Kaminsky said. "How many other Russians got turned away?"

Board of Elections Executive Director John Ravitz said he did not believe Kaminsky's claims.

"If they were having this many problems at the polling sites, I'm sure her campaign manager would have called me about them," he said.

As for Kaminsky's charges about the voting machines, Ravitz said: "She can say whatever she wants to say. The reality is that it can't happen."

Kaminsky had hoped to become the first Russian immigrant elected to the Legislature. Another Russian candidate, Alex Kaplan, 29, an attorney, is running against Cohen as a Republican.

Rocoff said that he was waiting for the paper ballots to be counted to see if they "match the number of people who voted. If all that turns out to be verifiable, then I'll advise my client accordingly," he said.

Adele Cohen's spokesman, Michael Armstrong, denied any tampering on Cohen's part.

"If there was a problem that we were aware of, we would have brought it immediately to the attention of police officers or the Board of Elections supervisors," Armstrong said.