Wall Street Journal: Battle Over Upstate Congressional Seat Shows New York’s Election Problems
Wall Street Journal: Battle Over Upstate Congressional Seat Shows New York’s Election Problems
Republican Claudia Tenney is set to be declared the winner of the congressional race between her and U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi this week, but advocates said there is another clear loser in the contest: local boards of elections whose errors have been laid bare during a three-month court proceeding.
State Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte said in a Friday ruling that Ms. Tenney had received 109 more votes than the Democratic incumbent in the state’s 22nd District, which stretches from Pennsylvania to Lake Ontario through the cities of Binghamton and Utica.
The State Board of Elections is scheduled to meet Monday to certify the election results. Mr. Brindisi’s lawyers said they are appealing some of Justice DelConte’s rulings on which ballots should be counted, but the judge directed election officials to certify the results in the last unresolved U.S. House race in the country. Ms. Tenney has declared victory.
The court-supervised canvass revealed several irregularities in the county process, including unprocessed registration forms, misplaced ballots and votes cast by people who then died before Election Day. …
Mr. Perry said the congressional contest was a reason to re-examine New York’s practice of letting political parties appoint the leaders and staff at local boards of elections. Susan Lerner, executive director of the advocacy group Common Cause New York, said the state needed professionalized election administration staff who were hired based on their qualifications.
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