NEW YORK CITY: Bill Thompson Concedes Mayoral Primary, Endorses De Blasio

NYC Mayoral Recount Drags OnUPDATE: Thompson To Bow Out

UPDATE: My earlier post below may be moot, according to a tweet just published by the New York Times.

It's almost one week after New York City's mayoral primary and we still don't know if Bill De Blasio got the 40% needed to avoid a runoff with Bill Thompson.

On Sunday, workers continued checking the vote tallies in the lever machines, a tedious task that was supposed to be finished by Saturday but got jammed up in Queens and Manhattan. Board officials said they expect to finish recanvassing of the machines early Monday, then begin reviewing the 78,000 paper ballots, including 10,000 “emergency” ballots voters filled out because the lever machines in their election districts didn’t function on Primary Day. The review will include an additional 21,000 absentee ballots, plus 45,000 affidavits filled out by voters whose registration couldn’t be found at poll sites, will be counted.

The unofficial total from Tuesday showed De Blasio at 40.3%.

NYC Democratic Mayoral Race Too Close To Call Regarding Possible Runoff

Democratic mayoral leader Bill de Blasio appears to have very narrowly avoided a runoff, having eked out a scant 0.19% more votes than the 40% requirement at this writing. But with 97%  of the precincts having reported, the city's Board Of Elections announced that it will now count absentee ballots and the paper ballots used yesterday for malfunctioning machines. A final count is not expected until Monday, possibly later.

NEW YORK CITY: Bloomberg Suggests Fingerprinting Public Housing Tenants

Speaking on his weekly radio address, yesterday New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested fingerprinting the city's public housing tenants.

“What we really should have is fingerprinting to get in. And of course there’s an allegation that some of these apartments aren’t occupied by the people who originally have the lease,” said Mr. Bloomberg during his weekly radio sit-down with WOR’s John Gambling. The mayor noted that, while New York City Housing Authority building house about five percent of the city’s population, they account for about 20 percent of city crime. “We’ve just gotta find some ways to keep bringing crime down there,” he said, arguing that most people who live in the buildings want more police protection. “If you have a stranger walking in the halls of your apartment building, don’t you want somebody to stop and say, ‘Who are you? Why’re you here?’ Because the locks on these doors, with so many people coming and going, you really can’t,” he said.

Democratic mayoral candidates immediately slammed the idea.

Within an hour of Bloomberg's radio appearance, the mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson derided the fingerprinting idea as "disrespectful" and "disgraceful." "Just like stop-and-frisk, this is another direct act of treating minorities like criminals," said Thompson, a former city comptroller, in a statement. "Mayor Bloomberg wants to make New Yorkers feel like prisoners in their own homes." The public advocate Bill de Blasio, who is one of the front-runners in the mayoral race, called Bloomberg "out of touch" and urged the mayor to instead install security cameras within such public buildings, which house more than 400,000 people.

Christine Quinn also issued a statement.

“It’s a completely ludicrous and outrageous notion that NYCHA residents and their guests should have to be fingerprinted to gain access to their own homes and to visit family and friends,” she said in a statement. “Rather than go after law abiding citizens who live in public housing, the City needs to provide residents with the security systems they have been promised for years.”

A spokesman for the mayor dismissed privacy concerns, because...iPhones.

“All security is moving towards biometrics – even the next iPhone will have fingerprint security. Every day the Mayor logs into his computer by placing his finger on the keyboard to login. Why wouldn’t we want to think about providing the highest level of security possible for NYCHA residents?” he asked via email. “You place the strongest security measures on things of most value – what is more valuable than their homes?”

RELATED: The city is about to retrofit 20 public housing towers with hotel-style key cards that will replace standard locks. That project is costing $11M.

New Wall Street Journal-NBC Poll

From the Wall Street Journal:

With nine candidates on the Democratic primary ballot, there is next to no chance anyone will win the contest outright, and so the top candidates have focused their efforts on securing a spot in the runoff. While Ms. Quinn has spent most of the race as the front-runner, the poll showed she will be the underdog in a runoff, Mr. Miringoff said. In a hypothetical face-off with Mr. de Blasio, he leads against Ms. Quinn 44% to 42% among registered democrats. If the runoff were between Mr. Thompson and Ms. Quinn, he leads 44% to 43%. Mr. de Blasio would also beat Mr. Thompson in a runoff, 44% to 36%, the poll showed. The margins in all three cases were slightly wider among likely voters.

The primary is in three weeks.

Quinn Continues Lead In Mayoral Polls

From the latest New York Times/Siena poll:

Christine C. Quinn is leading the crowded field in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor, lifted by support among Manhattanites and higher-income voters, the latest New York Times/Siena College poll finds. But just over a month before the Sept. 10 primary, Ms. Quinn is still well below the level needed to avoid a runoff, and many voters remain undecided. Ms. Quinn, the City Council speaker, is backed by 25 percent of Democratic voters, followed by 16 percent for William C. Thompson Jr., a former city comptroller, and 14 percent for Bill de Blasio, the public advocate.

Anthony Weiner is in fourth place with 10%.

NYC Teachers Union Endorses Former Comptroller Bill Thompson For Mayor

Democratic mayoral candidate and former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson, who lost to Bloomberg by only four points in 2009, tonight received the endorsement of the city's 200,000-member teachers union. Tonight all seven declared Democratic mayoral candidates will debate at Hunter College on the Upper East Side. The debate will be carried live by NY1 and should prove quite lively.

RELATED: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn received the endorsement of the Teamsters Union earlier this week.