Brindisi Takes Lead After All Votes Counted in NY-22 Race

(This story was updated at 6:00 p.m.)

All the votes have been counted and Rep. Anthony Brindisi has taken the lead in the race for the 22nd Congressional district, according to the Brindisi campaign on Wednesday afternoon. Reports claim that Brindisi is now leading by only a handful of votes.

"Election results from the remaining counties in the district show Anthony Brindisi has now taken the lead. We are hopeful that once New York’s 22nd congressional district is certified, Representative Brindisi will be sworn in again to continue his bipartisan work on behalf of this district. As we've said from the start, once the election process is completed Anthony will be re-elected. Democracy might force us to wait sometimes, but voters’ faith in this process and our Republic should remain steadfast." -Luke Jackson, Brindisi for Congress spokesman

 

Claudia Tenney responded to Brindisi's release calling the results "misleading and inaccurate."  A Tenney spokesperson released this statement to the media.

“Governor Cuomo’s unfair, unwise, and unilateral rules changes and administrative burdens overwhelmed our voting system and created this utter dysfunction. As a result, the law was not followed when ballots were challenged and tabulated in this election. The result remains far from resolved. Hundreds of ineligible ballots were illegally or improperly cast including votes by the dead, non-residents, or unregistered voters. Those ballots should not – and must not – be counted. The hearing in court has already established that the current tally includes invalid votes and that the process to review and count the massive amount of paper ballots is fractured. Today’s misleading and inaccurate tally is rife with errors and mistakes that must be rectified before this election is certified. It is far from final. Our team will fight to ensure the rights of every voter who cast a legal and proper ballot are preserved and not diluted. We cannot sacrifice accuracy for speed. When that is done, we feel strongly that Claudia Tenney will be certified the winner of the race for the 22nd District of New York.”

Last week, former Congresswoman Claudia Tenney claimed victory in the race, but it was later discovered that not all of the votes, including provisional, had been counted.

“Now that every vote has been counted, we have maintained the vote lead and are poised to come out victorious. This process has been long but it is critical that every legal vote be counted and accounted for. Now that it is done, I am confident that I will be certified the winner soon," said Tenney on November 19th.

On Tuesday Tenney appeared on Fox News and called the voting process corrupt. "Think about this," Tenney said to FOX News, "because there is no verification, no voter I.D. In New York, we have discovered ... there are a number of people who are deceased that actually voted in this election," a reference to a New York Post report.

Tenney repeated accusations that President Trump had made about voter fraud and absentee ballots. "We allowed no-excuse absentee ballots, anyone could get an absentee ballot; [they] can apply for it online, didn't have to verify, you just have to have your name, date of birth, and address and your absentee ballot is sent," she said to Fox News.

Former Democratic Commissioner of the Oneida County Board of Elections, Jordan Karp told WIBX last week in an interview, that the storyline of dead people voting "isn't true." Karp said they use data at the BOE from the Health Department, from published obituaries and other official sources to prevent votes being attributed to people who have passed away.

Recent media reports also referenced the fact that NYSBOE disqualifies votes from people who voted early, and then died before Election Day. Syracuse.com reported that three votes in Madison County in the NY-22 race fit into that category. The paper said New York State election law requires that those votes must be thrown out. “You need to be a registered voter to vote, and upon death you cease to be registered,” the paper reported.

In Wednesday's, Brindisi's campaign gave background to today's news of a final count.

• Yesterday and today, County Boards of Election provided their most up-to-date ballot count.

• Reports indicate Congressman Anthony Brindisi now leads.

• Yesterday, the court issued an injunction preventing counties from certifying the results of the NY-22 election until further notice and both sides are briefing the court about next steps for resolving uncounted ballots.

The entire matter will resume in Oswego County Court on Monday.

Watch Tenney on Fox News  'The Ingraham Angle'