John Ravitz

Take a deep breath: another candidate is thinking of joining the race for the East Side Assembly seat being vacated by Pete Grannis. And this one's a Republican! (Yes, they still exist in Manhattan, I'm told.)

Meet Kenneth Moltner, a Community Board 8 member and an attorney by trade.

"I'm seriously considering it," Moltner told me yesterday. "It is not a yes. It is not no. I'm seriously considering it." He declined to get into what factors would sway his decision.

His potential candidacy does prompt a practical question: Who would a Republican Assemblyman in Albany turn to for help with, well, anything?

"When we speak of allies, if I run, I would be there to work for the people of my district."

Moltner said he'd fashion himself in the mold of former lawmakers John Ravitz in the Assembly and Roy Goodman in the state Senate.

Brave.

-- Azi Paybarah

That's how many people have used the new voting machines at the city's five "super poll sites," according to the Executive Chairman of the city's Board of Elections, John Ravitz,

It's worth noting that due to prolonged negotiations in Albany, today's election is the big test for those voting machines, which will be rolled out in full next year -- when practically nobody is running. In an email, Ravitz also said, "So far no major problems. Any problems dealing with machines and supplies have been fixed within a 45 min period."

Sounds pretty good. Anybody with a different experience?

-- Azi Paybarah

A reader notes that Sequoia, a company under investigation by the federal government because of it's ties to Venezaualian President Hugo Chavez, is trying to supply voting machines in New York.

The Executive Director of the state's Board of Elections, John Ravitz, confirmed in an email that, "Sequoia has sent both their DRE and Opscan machines to the State Board of Elections for certification."

Just one more scandal storyline to follow.

-- Azi Paybarah

More people turned up on the steps of City Hall this afternoon, by an unofficial count, than actually voted in Tuesday's Democratic Mayoral primary.

There was the usual, somewhat awkward, generally enthusiastic three-way endorsement of Freddy, following his praise of each of his rivals.

It was, said Denny Farrell, "The worst nightmare for the present Mayor," which overstated it of course, but wasn't entirely wrong. Freddy is politically stronger, and more on his game, than many expected.

Freddy, however, was on to other enemies: the run-off, he alleged, is being advanced "by people who want to foster division in this party."

(Which seemed a bit premature, as at the moment seems to be the product of voters who didn't vote for him, but never mind.)

Anyway, asked who exactly he was accusing (one assumes Republican Board of Elections chief John Ravitz) Freddy replied with a classic of his sometimes cryptic style: "If the shoe fits, anyone can wear it."  read more »

Asked what that meant, he offered to repeat it in Spanish.

When John Ravitz cut his hair short and took over the city's Board of Elections last year, the forme  read more »

The Real Threat to the U.S.  read more »

In 2000, it was Hillary Clinton vs. Rick Lazio. In 2001, it was Mike Bloomberg vs.  read more »