Wantagh-Seaford Election 2020: What You Need To Know

WANTAGH-SEAFORD, NY — Wantagh and Seaford voters were lining up Tuesday morning to fill out their ballots for Congress and New York State Legislature. Polls in New York opened at 6 a.m. and will remain open until 9 p.m. on Election Day, which comes after about 100 million votes were cast nationwide before Tuesday as the nation holds a referendum on President Donald Trump and his response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Wantagh and Seaford voters will cast their ballots for Congress, as well as for New York State Senate and Assembly, both of which are currently controlled by Democrats. That includes voting to fill the seat of longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Pete King, where Republican Andrew Garbarino seeks to defeat Democrat Jackie Gordon to keep the seat in GOP hands.

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice will also appear on Wantagh ballots this year as she defends her seat against Republican challenger Douglas Tuman.

Other state races on Wantagh and Seaford ballots this year include elections for state Assembly Districts 14 and state Senate Districts 6 and 8, featuring incumbents Dave McDonough, Kevin Thomas and John Brooks, respectively.

The deadline to register to vote in New York was Oct. 9. You can check your voting status on the Secretary of State's website, where you can also find your polling place.

New York’s 2nd Congressional District

Garbarino and Gordon seek to succeed King, who announced last year he would not seek re-election. The district covers Levittown, North Wantagh, Seaford, South Farmingdale and Massapequa. Suffolk County communities include Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, Gilgo, West Babylon, Wyandanch, North Babylon, Babylon, Baywood, Brentwood, Brightwaters, Central Islip, Islip, Great River, Ocean Beach, Oakdale, West Sayville, Bohemia, West Islip and Ronkonkoma.

Garbarino, 36, of Sayville, is currently an attorney and assemblyman for New York's Seventh District. His brother is an assistant town attorney in Islip. After graduating from Sayville High School, he earned a bachelor's degree from George Washington University in history and classical humanities, later earned and a law degree from Hofstra Law School.

Garbarino was elected to represent the 7th Assembly District in 2012. Now in his fourth term, Garbarino has served as the ranking Minority Member of the Committee on Insurance, and also sits on the Codes, Health, Higher Education, and Racing and Wagering Committees. He serves as the vice-chair of the Joint Conference Committee and is a member of the Assembly Minority Review Committee, which develops and vets policy for the Minority Conference.

Garbarino is also a member of the executive committee of the National Council of Insurance Legislators, which is made up of state legislators across the country. He also works at his family’s law firm in Sayville, is a member of the Rotary Club and Knights of Columbus, and is a parishioner at St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church.

Gordon, 55, of Copiague, received her Bachelor of Science in health education at Hunter College, her Master of Science in counselor education at Queens College and a Professional Diploma in educational leadership from Queens College.

Serving as an Army Reservist beginning in 1984, Gordon retired six years ago with a rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She worked as an educator in New York Public Schools from 1986 until 2020 and also served as a Babylon Town councilwoman from 2007 to 2020.

See also:

• Meet The Candidates: Andrew Garbarino For Congress
• Meet The Candidates: Jackie Gordon For Congress

New York’s 4th Congressional District

U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice will face Tuman in the race for the 4th Congressional District.

Rice, 55, lives in Garden City. She was elected to office in 2014 and is running for her fourth term in Congress. Before serving in the House, Rice was the Nassau County district attorney, a position she held for nearly a decade.

Rice graduated from the Catholic University of America in 1987 and later earned her law degree from Touro Law Center. She has served as a member of the Homeland Security Committee and as the top Democrat on the Transportation Security subcommittee. She has also served as a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation, and Operations, vice chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force.

Tuman, 40, has been the commissioner of engineering for the Town of Hempstead for the last four years. He earned a bachelor of engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctorate from Hofstra Law. He is both a licensed attorney and professional engineer.

This is Tuman's first run for political office.

The district includes Atlantic Beach, Baldwin, Bellmore, Bellerose, Bellerose Terrace, East Rockaway, East Meadow, Elmont, the Five Towns, Floral Park, Franklin Square, Freeport, Garden City, Hempstead, Island Park, Long Beach, Lynbrook, Malverne, Merrick, Mineola, Carle Place, New Hyde Park, Oceanside, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, South Floral Park, Stewart Manor, Uniondale, Valley Stream, Wantagh, West Hempstead and Westbury.

See also:

• Meet The Candidates: Kathleen Rice For Congress
• Meet The Candidates: Douglas Tuman For Congress

New York Senate District 6

In the race for New York Senate District 6, Democratic state Sen. Kevin Thomas faces a formidable challenge from Dennis Dunne Sr. Libertarian Jonathan Gunther is also running as a third-party candidate following an unsuccessful bid last year for Nassau County Legislature.

Thomas, of Levittown, was elected in 2018 to represent District 6, becoming the first Indian-American to serve in the state Senate. He currently serves as chairman of the Consumer Protection Committee and sits on the Judiciary, Finance, Banking, Aging, Veterans, Homeland Security and Military Affairs committees.

Born in Dubai, Thomas immigrated to the United States when he was 10 and grew up in Queens. He received his Juris Doctorate from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School and worked as an attorney and appointee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to the New York State Advisory Committee.

Dunne, of Levittown, represents the 6th Councilmanic District in the Town of Hempstead. He was appointed to the town board in 2017 after serving 22 years as a Nassau County legislator.

Dunne was an original member of the Legislature when it formed in 1996. He serves as president of the Levittown/Island Trees Veterans Council and was the president of the Marine Corps Coordinating Council. He is a member of the American Legion, VFW, the Disabled American Veterans, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, the Lions Club, the Knights of Columbus, the Kiwanis Club and the Levittown Chamber of Commerce. Dunne is also the former chair of the Nassau County Executive's Veterans Advisory Committee.

Dunne received his Associate of Arts degree from Nassau Community College in 1975 and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Hofstra University in 1979.

See also:

• New York Senate District 6 Candidates: Meet Kevin Thomas

New York Senate District 8

In state Senate District 8, Democrat John Brooks is running unopposed. The district includes Freeport, Roosevelt, Merrick, North Merrick, Bellmore, North Bellmore, Wantagh, Seaford, East Massapequa, Amityville, North Amityville, North Lindenhurst, East Farmingdale, and parts of Massapequa, South Farmingdale and Lindenhurst.

Brooks, 70, of Seaford, has represented the district since 2017. He has been an active volunteer firefighter for more than five decades and served on the Seaford Board of Education. Before his election to office, he worked professionally in the insurance industry.

See also:

• Meet The Candidates: John Brooks For Senate

New York Assembly District 14

Incumbent Republican New York state Assemblyman Dave McDonough will face Democrat Kevin Gorman. Libertarian candidate Jake Gutowitz is also running on a third party platform.

First elected to represent the district in 2002, McDonough, of Merrick, is the chairman of the Assembly Minority Task Force on Public Safety and works with prominent agencies including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Secret Service, and more.

McDonough is also the ranking minority member on the Assembly Transportation Committee and serves on the Health, Education, Veterans' Affairs and Consumer Affairs committees. He is also a member of the Nassau County Task Force on Family Violence.

Gorman, 68, of Wantagh, works as a procurement supervisor for Nassau County and has spent 20 years in financial services. He graduated from Fordham University, describes himself as a proud uncle and said he has a lifetime of community service experience in Wantagh and around the district.

The 14th Assembly District includes Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick, North Merrick, Wantagh, Seaford and parts of Levittown.

See also:

• Meet The Candidates: David McDonough For Assembly
  
• Meet The Candidates: Kevin Gorman For Assembly

Presidential Election

In what's shaping up to be one of the most anticipated presidential elections in recent memory, incumbent Republican President Donald Trump will try to fend off a tough foe in former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden.

Biden has held a healthy lead in the polls in recent weeks — FiveThirtyEight's website shows Biden has an average of advantage of 10.5 points as of Wednesday, up from 8.2 on Oct. 1. The site notes that polling averages are adjusted based on state and national polls. Candidates' averages can change even if no new polls are added to the calculation.

Historic Early Voting

Nassau County voters turned out early in droves, following a pattern seen nationwide. More than 144,000 absentee ballots were requested by Republicans and Democrats in Nassau, a spokeswoman for the county Board of Elections told Patch on Friday afternoon. About 99,000 of those were requested by registered Democrats and about 45,000 were by registered Republicans

About 93,000 absentee ballots were returned: about 65,000 from registered Democrats and 28,000 from registered Republicans, the Board of Elections said.

Furthermore, about 171,000 people in Nassau voted early, including about 82,000 registered Demcorats and 48,800 registered Republicans.

While there was no early voting in 2016, the spokeswoman said, the number of absentee ballots requested and returned in 2020 has been "tremendously larger." In 2016, about 48,000 absentee ballots were cast in all in Nassau County.

How To Vote

There are several ways residents can vote this year: mailing in their ballot, voting early and voting on election day.

Mail-In Voting

Vote-by-mail applications must be received by the Nassau County clerk by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Subscribe The ballot itself must either be personally delivered to the board of elections no later than the close of polls on Election Day, or postmarked by a governmental postal service not later than the day of the election and received no later than the 7th day after the election.

Voting On Election Day

Polls in New York are open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day.
You can find your assigned polling place by visiting the New York State Board of Elections website. For questions about voting in Garden City, contact the Nassau County Board of Elections at 516-571-VOTE (8683).