Queens DA race heats up as Tiffany Cab\u00e1n eyes rejected provisional ballots

Katz gets a revival!

Borough President Melinda Katz’s newfound 20-vote margin over lefty insurgent Tiffany Cabán stunned New York’s political world Thursday and ensures a recount of the once-thought-done Democratic primary battle for Queens district attorney.

The dramatic seesaw in the race has Cabán’s campaign eyeing the roughly 2,500 rejected provisional ballots subject to a Friday Board of Elections hearing as one way to claw back into the lead.

No matter the outcome on the disputed paper ballots, the Board of Elections will start a manual recount of all ballots next week.

“Our campaign, and all of Queens, is up against a party machine that has ruled local politics and suppressed democracy for decades,” said Caban in a statement. “We are still fighting to make sure every valid ballot is counted. We are confident that if that happens, we will be victorious.”

The race has drawn national attention with powerful political players taking sides. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic establishment and labor unions backed long-time pol Katz. Caban’s supporters included Rep. Alexandaria Ocasio-Cortez, presidential candidates Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists.

The initially rejected provisional ballots would likely favor Cabán, while the absentee ballots counted Wednesday skewed heavily toward Katz, one longtime Democratic insider said.

“It’s by no means over,” the person added. “Katz has to successfully prevent more affidavit ballots from being opened.”

Currently, Katz holds the slimmest of margins over Cabán, having won 34,898 of the ballots cast compared to the public defender’s 34,878, tallies provided by both campaign show.

A BOE spokeswoman refused again Thursday to confirm the count until the tally is certified.

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It was a shocking U-turn from the initial June 25 primary day results last week that put Cabán up by 1,100 votes, pending the absentee and provisional ballot counts.

The lingering 2,500 ballots were initially considered and rejected by the BOE on a case-by-case basis, but those decisions can be appealed.

Voters typically fill out a provisional ballot when his name doesn’t appear in the polling book and they can be nixed for a number of reasons, including if the voter is ineligible to vote in the Democratic primary.

But that didn’t stop high-profile left-wing politicians from throwing punches at the oft-criticized, patronage-heavy Board of Elections and insinuating — without evidence — that something foul was afoot.

“Bc STEALING elections is DEFINITELY the sign of a real leader & a great way to earn the trust of those you represent,” tweeted liberal state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi. “how dumb do they think we/the people are?”

When called out on Twitter, she later responded: “No one is accusing BOE! Why don’t you ask before you make assumptions? This is directed at the campaigns. But thanks!”

The Board of Elections count on Wednesday was open to the press and lawyers for Caban’s campaign were present.

Meanwhile, the Queens Republican Party’s efforts to find a new, more competitive candidate to compete against Cabán in November appeared to have been seemingly put on hold, with the Democratic nomination once again up in the air.

Top Republicans were eyeing Democrat Greg Lasak — a moderate, who was once a judge and prosecutor — after Katz publicly rejected switching lines on Tuesday before she took the lead.

“Chaos is a good word,” said one GOP wag. “[Katz]’s up by 20 votes and it kind of puts everybody in a holding pattern.”

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The person added: “It’ll be very difficult to beat Katz on the Democratic line. And I don’t think Lasak would do it anyways. He can read the tea leaves.”

Additional reporting by Reuven Fenton and Israel Salas-Rodriguez