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A New York county reported on Tuesday that 55 early ballots had been discovered, potentially altering the outcome of a separate congressional race by just 12 votes.
The Chenango County District Attorney’s Office wrote to Judge Scott J. DelConte that the county council of electoral commissioners had uncovered 55 advance ballots, of which 44 are countable; the remaining 11 were apparently owned by people who were not registered to vote.
“These ballots were apparently misplaced and never counted,” County District Attorney Alan Gordon wrote. “I am seeking instructions from the Court on how to proceed with the solicitation of these additional ballots.”
According to WBNG reporter Josh Rosenblatt, those votes have the potential to keep Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-NY) as New York’s 22nd District representative, or give the election to Republican challenger Claudia Tenney.
This is particularly interesting because these are early votes, for which we do not have independent data. If they reflect the in-person vote on Election Day, that should help the Republican @claudiatenney. If they reflect absentee / affidavit results, it will help the Democrat @RepBrindisi.
– Josh Rosenblatt (@JRosenblattTV) December 1, 2020
If the ballots are allowed to be counted and overturn the outcome of the election, it would be another blow to House Democrats who, despite maintaining their majority, lost a dozen seats in the benefit of the Republicans.
The race was extremely close, with both contenders claiming a lead over the past week. Early unofficial results showed Tenney won the election, but Brindisi appeared to outperform her last week. On Monday, Tenney’s campaign said it took a 25-vote lead after a “tabulation error” was corrected.
Syracuse.com noted that these small leads ultimately mean little because 2,000 absenteeism and affidavit votes remain to be counted. The New York Supreme Court is expected to rule on the challenges that were made against those ballots this week.
Carol Franklin, Chenango County Election Commissioner, told Syracuse.com she had no idea why the votes were not being counted.
“I guess they got there early and got put away and misplaced,” Franklin said. “I hope we can open them tomorrow with representatives present from each campaign.”
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