Re-count next week on affordable housing vote

Asked Monday if there would be a re-count by the Suffolk County Board of Elections (BOE) of a wafer-thin margin passing Proposition 3, Town Attorney Stephen Kiley said no.

On Wednesday morning he announced that he had heard from the BOE that there would be “a manual recount, expected to be next week, as the difference was less than 20.”

Proposition 3 asked voters to vote up or down on employing a 0.5% real estate transfer tax to help fund affordable housing.

This was just the latest stunning plot shift in the most dramatic and contentious political issue in years.

In a count of absentee and affidavit ballots by the BOE, Proposition 3 passed by a 13-vote margin. The tally from the BOE, as of Monday, was 932 “Yes” votes to 919 “No” votes. This was after the BOE had in-person voting on the initiative losing by eight votes out of 1,770 cast.

Now, according to Mr. Kiley, a hand recount will take place.