Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams on Tuesday downplayed the Board of Elections’ embarrassing error of releasing faulty election results — claiming that “human beings make mistakes” and the beleaguered agency “did a great job” carrying out its task in June.
“This is America, and we should be so proud that we have a peaceful transferring of power in our country,” said Adams on ABC’s “The View,” when show co-host Sara Haines asked if the BOE’s missteps created doubt in the democratic process.
“You’re going to have snafus. We’re human beings, human beings make mistakes,” added Adams, the heavy favorite in the November general election against Republic nominee Curtis Sliwa. “There was a big mistake, the Board of Elections did a great job.”
The Brooklyn borough president said he’s “proud” of election administration officials, and insisted the bungling BOE will improve.
“I’m hoping our state lawmakers are examining this to make sure that we pay the employees the right salaries, give them the right tools and really ensure that we can have all the protection that’s necessary,” said Adams.
“I’m proud of those men and women who carry out this difficult function every year,” Adams continued. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to learn from our mistakes and grow from that.”
Adams sanguine remarks come after the bumbling BOE on June 29, a week after primary day, released preliminary election results that included 135,000 “test” ballots in its computer used to count the votes, temporarily throwing the race into chaos.
Adams’ campaign was first among the contenders to flag the significant discrepancy between ballots cast on Election Day and preliminary results released by the BOE a week later.
“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,” an Adams spokesman said at the time.
“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.”
Election officials the next day held an illegal, behind-closed-doors meeting to discuss their latest mess-up.
“This is America, and we should be so proud that we have a peaceful transferring of power in our country.”
Eric Adams on ABC’s “The View”
In the months ahead of the election, the agency was being run by a “disaster” deputy, as its head was on medical leave, The Post subsequently reported.
The 2021 election results blunder was not the BOE’s first.
It admitted purging 200,000 voters from its rolls before the 2016 presidential primary; in November 2018, some voters were forced to wait hours to cast their ballots because high humidity broke their new scanners; and in 2020, the board disqualified 80,000 ballots because officials weren’t prepared to process the increase in mail-in votes cast amid the COVID-19 pandemic.