Joye Brown takes a look at the voting power of the Elmont and North Valley Stream African American and immigrant communities in Newsday. She writes:
“The African-American vote, Joye, knocked us on our ass,” Joseph Mondello, Nassau’s Republican Party chairman said Wednesday. “And if you write anything other than that, you would not be telling the truth.”
High turnout in the heavily African-American and immigrant communities of North Valley Stream and Elmont — where Bill Clinton made a stop at a popular Haitian music and food venue last week to campaign for his wife, Hillary — made a key difference in the 9th State Senate District race, where Democrat Todd Kaminsky declared victory over Republican Christopher McGrath.
In Elmont, according to Jay Jacobs, the county’s Democratic chairman, Kaminsky got 1,354 more votes than McGrath; in North Valley Stream, he gained a 1,705-vote advantage, according to unofficial results.
Contrast that with Skelos’ community, Rockville Centre, where Kaminsky lost to McGrath by 1,127 votes. The combined votes from the mostly minority communities — along with Long Beach, where Kaminsky pulled in 2,797 more votes than McGrath — muted the Republican’s advantage.”
Note- Despite the advantage gained by Kaminsky in North Valley Stream and Elmont, GOP officials still tried to suppress the Democratic vote. At one North Valley Stream poll site, GOP inspectors challenged one African American’s right to vote for the Senate race after the voter successfully voted in the Presidential primary. The voter was allegedly asked for an ID card to prove his identity, something he refused to. The voter was able to vote by affidavit after an disturbing and possibly illegal scene at the poll.
New York Redistricting News 