NY House race flips multiple times amid ballot fight, with result not expected before swearing-in date
Judge is hearing arguments from each campaign's lawyers over contested ballots in the race
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Election officials may not determine the results of an ultra-tight New York congressional race before the Jan. 3 swear-in date amid an ongoing court battle over contested ballots, according to local reports.
A judge is hearing arguments from each campaign's lawyers over contested ballots in the race. Former Rep. Claudia Tenney had been leading Democratic incumbent Anthony Brindisi, who represents the state's 22nd Congressional District, by 12 votes in an unofficial count earlier this month.
As of Thursday, Brindisi had jumped to a 14-vote lead against his Republican challenger with 155,625 votes compared to her 155,611, according to Syracuse.com.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Tenney, however, was up by 19 votes at the start of the week. The results have flipped several times and are expected to continue changing before lawmakers are sworn in less than two weeks from now.
Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney signals she successfully cast her ballot after voting at St. George's Church in New Hartford, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Ainsworth, File)
Even then, Oswego County Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte does not believe the race will be ready to call, according to CNY Central.
DelConte last week ordered election boards in eight counties in the 22nd District to correct a number of errors regarding challenged absentee ballots, saying the Oneida and Madison County Board of Elections violated election laws, CNY reported.
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Earlier in December, DelConte rejected an argument from the Tenney campaign that election results should be certified as they stood at the time, prompting the recanvass efforts.
DelConte blamed the counting errors on "the careless or inadvertent failure to follow the mandate of statute and case law" in his order, according to CNY.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oneida County's Board of Elections must canvas 626 remaining ballots out of the total 1,797 ballots under review, but the board will not be able to complete the process before the court's recess starting on Dec. 25 until Jan. 1, and DelConte told lawmakers to prepare to reconvene on Jan. 4. The unofficial vote count for the 22nd District's House race, therefore, won't be revealed until 2021, local reports show.
Tenney lost to Brindisi in the 22nd District's 2018 congressional race by about two percentage points.