Suspicious? Republican Congressional Candidate May Now Lose After 55 Uncounted Ballots Were Found
A newly discovered batch of 55 uncounted ballots in an upstate New York congressional race could swing the race from a Republican pick-up to a Democratic hold.
Just 12 votes separated incumbent Rep. Anthony Brindisi from former GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney as of Monday, when the 55 ballots were found, The Associated Press reported.
Brindisi, a freshman lawmaker who defeated Tenney in 2018, represents New York’s 22nd Congressional District, which includes the city of Utica.
The 55 uncounted ballots were cast in Chenango County during New York’s early voting period, officials informed a state judge, according to the AP.
“Those ballots were apparently mislaid and never counted,” Chenango County Attorney Alan Gordon wrote to state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte.
The discovery came on Tuesday, a day after county officials were supposed to deliver their final tally to DelConte.
“I have advised our Board of Elections to not open any of those ballots and to secure them in their offices,” Gordon said, adding that he is awaiting the court’s instructions on how to proceed.
Of the 55 ballots, 11 appear to be from unregistered votes, he said.
The remaining 44 could reverse Tenney’s lead; however, DelConte still must rule on over 2,000 contested absentee and provisional ballots, the New York Post reported.
The newly discovered ballots are just the latest twist in a roller coaster of a rematch between Tenney and Brindisi.
Election results posted by The New York Times showed Tenney taking a healthy 9,000-vote lead with 92 percent of precincts reporting, only to see that lead evaporate once the absentee ballots were counted.
Sound familiar? That scenario played out in multiple swing states in the presidential race.
“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,” according to the AP.
WKTV-TV reported that Tenney moved back into her current 12-vote lead Monday after eight county boards reported new vote totals, making the unofficial tally 155,492 for the Republican to Brindisi’s 155,480.
It’s been four weeks since Election Day, and they’re still counting votes in California and New York.
Will they be done before Inauguration Day?
— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) December 1, 2020
Democrats currently hold a much thinner 222 to 210 lead in the House, with New York’s 22nd Congressional District still undecided and Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District registering a 6-vote win for the Republican, but that race is likely heading to court, according to the political site FiveThirtyEight.
The GOP will have at least 211 House members because Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District is heading to a Republican versus Republican runoff on Saturday.
With 14 seats flipped and wins already logged in all but one race (Tenney v. Brindisi) deemed a toss-up by The Cook Political Report going into Nov. 3, the GOP has much to celebrate.
#IA02 @millermeeks#MI03 @VoteMeijer#MN07 @FischbachMN7#NM02 @Yvette4congress#NY11 @NMalliotakis#OK05 @stephaniebice#SC01 @NancyMace#UT04 @BurgessOwens
Be sure you’re following the newest Republican Members of Congress! (2/2)
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) December 2, 2020
The astounding wins in a wide variety of states, including Democratic strongholds, raises the question: What happened at the presidential level?
History stands against the idea that an incumbent president would lose while his party gains seats in the House.
The only example of this occurring was 1992, when George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, but independent Ross Perot was in the mix.
Clinton won with a plurality of just 43 percent of the vote, with Bush and Perot taking a combined 57 percent.
In other words, the conservative vote, or at least the right-of-center vote, actually won the majority of the electorate.
Evidence is being uncovered and whistleblowers are coming forward to provide ample reason to believe foul play occurred in the metro areas of key swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin.
Let’s keep pressing forward until every legal vote is counted and fraud is exposed.
Elections, of course, are at the center of our democratic republic and Americans must have confidence they truly represent the will of the people.
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