The race for New York’s 22nd Congressional District, in which Republican Claudia Tenney currently has a 12-vote lead over incumbent Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D), could see its outcome change after 55 ballots were discovered that had not been previously counted.
“Chenango County Attorney Alan Gordon said election officials determined 44 of the ballots are valid, enough to swing an election that Tenney leads by 12 votes over Brindisi,” Syracuse.com reported. “Gordon said he advised the county’s Board of Elections to secure the ballots and leave them unopened in their offices. He said election officials determined 11 of the ballots are not valid because the voters were not registered.”
Chenango County Elections Commissioner Carol Franklin told the publication: “My guess is they came in early and they were put aside and mislaid. I would hope that we could open them tomorrow with representatives present from each campaign.”
WOW: An attorney from Chenango County drops a bombshell with the court– 55 uncounted early votes were just found, having never been seen before.
In a congressional race separated by just 12 votes, these newly discovered early votes could make the difference #NY22 @WBNG12News pic.twitter.com/SVDwXo8tgL
— Josh Rosenblatt (@JRosenblattTV) December 1, 2020
The Associated Press reported:
The discovery of the uncounted ballots in the rural county of around 47,000 people came a day after local elections officials in the 22nd Congressional District reported what were supposed to have been their final vote totals to the judge. Those totals — which didn’t include the newly discovered ballots — had showed Tenney with a 12-vote lead. …
The final result in the race won’t be known until DelConte rules on challenges to more than 2,000 disputed absentee and affidavit ballots cast in the contest. The discovery of the uncounted ballots is the latest twist in a roller coaster of a race. Tenney led by several thousand votes on Election Day, but her lead evaporated as absentee ballots were counted.
Brindisi appeared to take a lead of a few votes last week, only to see his advantage disappear last weekend after two counties said they had made tabulation errors. County boards of election had faced a Nov. 28 deadline to send official results to the state, but DelConte has blocked certification while the vote counting disputes are resolved.
According to The New York Times, Republicans have flipped 13 House seats this election cycle for a net gain of 10 seats. With four races still waiting to be called, Democrats lead Republicans in the overall count 222 t0 209.
“Although we don’t yet know the winners of some House races, we can already look ahead to the 2022 midterms and see a fairly straightforward path for the GOP to capture the House. Midterm elections historically go well for the party that’s not in the White House, and the out-of-power party is especially likely to do well in the House, since every seat is up for election,” FiveThirtyEight reported. “Since the end of World War II, the presidential party has lost an average of 27 House seats in midterm elections, as the chart below shows. No matter how many seats Democrats end up with after 2020’s election — at this point, they will probably end up somewhere in the low 220s — a loss of that magnitude would easily be enough for Republicans to retake the House.”