When Eric Adams, the leading candidate for New York City mayor, came forward and alleged irregularities in the election results, many rushed to slam him – but it turns out he was right.
Adam’s campaign said in a Tuesday statement that the Board of Elections released a vote total that included more than 100,000 additional votes than the total announced on election night. They called on the Board of Elections to explain the irregularities.
“The vote total just released by the Board of Elections is 100,000-plus more than the total announced on election night, raising serious questions,” the statement said. “We have asked the Board of Elections to explain such a massive increase and other irregularities before we comment on the ranked choice voting projection. We remain confident that Eric Adams will be the next mayor of New York because he put together a historic five borough working class coalition of New Yorkers to make our city a safer, fairer, more affordable place.” (RELATED: Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia In Nail-Biting Race To Become New York City’s Next Mayor)
Members of the media proceeded to call out Adams for his claims and imply that he was being unreasonable.
“Big shout out to the pundits who celebrated Adams as a ‘normie’ and the sensible centrist,” The Nation columnist Jeet Heer said.
Big shout out to the pundits who celebrated Adams as a “normie” and the sensible centrist. https://t.co/WE6C4JZ5uZ
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) June 29, 2021
MSNBC host Chris Hayes said that questioning the election results was “conspiracy-theorizing and delegitimization of elections.”
Something to consider is that the corrosive Big Lie conspiracy-theorizing and delegitimization of elections that Trump and the GOP have unleashed, won’t necessarily just stay contained to them.
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) June 29, 2021
In a now-deleted Tweet that was screenshotted by journalist Glenn Greenwald, journalist Josh Jordan said that people who criticized former President Donald Trump for questioning the results of the 2020 presidential election should be speaking out against Adams.
“If you thought it was dangerous when Trump questioned vote tallies, I assume you’re speaking up against Eric Adams’ statement today,” Jordan wrote.
Amazing:
(So far, none of them have noted the Board of Elections’ statement): pic.twitter.com/Fn5WIgVshF
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 29, 2021
Journalist Matt Binder chastised Adams and claimed he made the same argument that Trump did to challenge the 2020 election.
“Here we go…Eric Adams in a statement here is baffled that when the vote counting process plays out, the vote totals change from what they were on election night…this is the argument Trump used to declare election fraud,” Binder said.
here we go…Eric Adams in a statement here is baffled that when the vote counting process plays out, the vote totals change from what they were on election night…this is the argument Trump used to declare election fraud https://t.co/Ex3QVzkLVV
— Matt Binder (@MattBinder) June 29, 2021
Media Matter writer Parker Molloy said that the Adams “campaign wades back into this in the Trumpiest way possible.”
Media Matters — needless to say — pushed the same attacks on Eric Adams for questioning what were clearly the sketchy election results, results which were ultimately withdrawn as false. pic.twitter.com/Frkzl86zOV
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 30, 2021
The New York City Board of Elections later announced that there was a discrepancy in the ranked-choice voting report and that they were investigating.
“We are aware there is a discrepancy in the unofficial RCV round by round elimination report,” the Board said in a statement. “We are working with our RCV technical staff to identify where the discrepancy occurred. We ask the public, elected officials and candidates to have patience.”
We are aware there is a discrepancy in the unofficial RCV round by round elimination report. We are working with our RCV technical staff to identify where the discrepancy occurred. We ask the public, elected officials and candidates to have patience.
— NYC Board of Elections (@BOENYC) June 29, 2021
Tuesday night, the Board abruptly removed the unofficial vote count for the primary election from its website.