Oswego, NY – Republican Claudia Tenney will be certified as the winner of the 22nd Congress District race in New York, a judge ruled Friday, ending a three-month trial in the only undecided home race in the country.
The decision is the most definitive answer to who won in an election saga with many twists and turns, but it is not quite over yet. Democrat Anthony Brindisi has vowed to appeal to the state court, and he could try to challenge the election results at the House of Representatives himself.
Even after the state certifies Tenney as the winner, he will act through the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to seat her.
Tenney, from New Hartford, is in favor of Brindisi with 109 votes. She earned 156,098 votes compared to Brindisi’s 155,989 votes. Tenney’s margin is a .035 percent lead over her opponent.
Judge Scott DelConte, the state Supreme Court, ruled that provinces and the state election council must certify the election, rejecting the attempt of Democrat Anthony Brindisi, who held the seat until early January, not to hold the election officially until she appeal to a higher court.
In the ruling against Brindisi, DelConte argued that the Democrat did not provide enough evidence that the confirmation of Tenney would cause ‘irreparable damage’, as he still had a remedy at the federal level.
It is not clear when Brindisi’s appeal will begin. His lawyers announced Friday morning that they would appeal DelConte’s rejection of several hundred ballots that Brindisi wanted to count.
In its ruling, DelConte criticized local election councils for what he said amounted to ‘systemic violations of state and federal election law’ that affected both candidates. In particular, he singled out that Oneida County did not process more than 2,400 applications from voters who registered through the DMV, meaning they could not vote on election day.
But it is not the court’s role to rectify the errors in this case, he said. It depends on the State Election Council, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the US Department of Justice.
The judge also took the opportunity to dispel the rumors surrounding the lawsuits surrounding the integrity of the election. While there were mistakes, he writes, there was no fraud. No dead people voted. There was no difference in voting machines, he said.
“Every valid vote cast in the 22nd Congress District of New York has been set off and counted,” he wrote.
The state election board will try to certify Tenney as soon as possible, Kimberly Galvin, one of the council’s lawyers, said in an email Friday.
The state council scheduled a meeting for the certification on Wednesday, but they are trying to increase it, she said.
Even if the council cannot schedule a meeting before Wednesday, officials can contact the House of Representatives office and inform the clerk that eight counties involving the district have confirmed their results, Galvin said.
However, it is not yet entirely clear when Tenney would sit in Congress, Galvin said, especially given the pending appeal.
‘The House of Representatives controls its own membership. “We do not know how fast they will act, or even if they will act while appeals are pending,” she said. “It depends on them.”
A spokesman for the House Committee on Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tenney declared the victory in a statement and thanked Brindisi for his service as a Member of Congress.
‘Now that every legitimate vote has been counted, it’s time for the results to be certified. “The electorate needs a vote in Congress, and I look forward to working on behalf of the 22nd Congress District in New York,” she said.
In his response to the judge’s ruling, Brindisi said a “complete audit and retelling” was needed to ensure that the public trusted the outcome of the election, given all the mistakes made during the counting process.
“With the margin so thin, the ever-changing score and the countless mistakes that occurred in the final number of today, we can not afford to wonder here. We have to get it right, “he said in a statement. “Because it’s not a lottery, it’s a congressional election.”
DelConte had earlier ruled against Brindisi’s attempt at a retelling, but he temporarily suspended the certification to allow both parties to raise a legal question on how Tenney could sit in Congress while appeals are pending.
Brindisi’s statement did not specify how his campaign would try to get a hand story done or what his next steps were to fight to get back to Congress.
Contact reporter Patrick Lohmann at [email protected] or (315) 766-6670, and follow more # NY22 updates on Twitter: @PatLohmann.
More about the 22nd race of NY:
Amid mistakes and delays, a lesson from the 22nd race in New York: How not to run an election
Judge delays NY’s 22nd race another week after Brindisi’s last minute
In NY 22, judges suggest there are no good options to fix Oneida County’s error
What’s next in the Brindisi-Tenney House race? Appeals, retelling, may delay decision for months
700 votes were cast in the province of Oneida. Officials ignored state law in last litter
Oneida County registered 2400 voters, who abstained from voting in the Brindisi-Tenney race