Claudia Tenney to be certified as winner of New York’s 22nd race, judge rules

Oswego, N.Y. — Republican Claudia Tenney will be certified as the winner of New York’s 22nd Congressional District race, a judge ruled Friday, ending a three-month ordeal in the only undecided House race in the country.

The ruling represents the most definitive answer to who won in an election saga with many twists and turns, though it’s not entirely over yet. Democrat Anthony Brindisi has promised to appeal at the state court, and he could seek to contest the election results at the House of Representatives itself.

Even after the state certifies Tenney as the winner, it will take action by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives to seat her.

Tenney, of New Hartford, is ahead of Brindisi by 109 votes. She earned 156,098 votes to Brindisi’s 155,989. Tenney’s margin amounts to a .035 percent lead over her opponent.

State Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte ruled that counties and the state elections board are to certify the election, rejecting an effort by Democrat Anthony Brindisi, who occupied the seat until early January, to keep the election unofficial until his appeal to a higher court concludes.

In ruling against Brindisi, DelConte argued that the Democrat did not provide enough evidence that certifying Tenney would cause “irreparable harm,” given that he still had a remedy at the federal level.

It’s not clear when Brindisi’s appeal will begin. His attorneys announced Friday morning that they will appeal DelConte’s rejection of several hundred ballots that Brindisi wanted counted.

In his ruling, DelConte criticized local elections boards for what he said amounted to “systemic violations of state and federal election law” that affected both candidates. In particular, he singled out Oneida County’s failure to process more than 2,400 applications from voters who registered via the DMV, which rendered them unable to vote on Election Day.

But it’s not the court’s role to fix those errors in this case, he said. That’s up to the state elections board, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the United States Department of Justice.

The judge also took the opportunity to dispel the rumors that have swirled around the legal proceedings regarding the integrity of the election. While there were errors, he writes, there was no fraud. No dead people voted. There were no discrepancies in voting machines, he said.

“Every single valid vote that was cast in New York’s 22nd Congressional District has been accounted for, and counted,” he wrote.

The state elections board will try to certify Tenney as quickly as possible, said Kimberly Galvin, one of the board’s attorneys, in an email Friday.

The state board has had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday for the certification, but they are trying to move it up, she said.

Even if the board can’t schedule a meeting before Wednesday, officials could contact the clerk’s office of the House of Representatives and inform the clerk that eight counties that comprise the district have certified their results, Galvin said.

However, it’s still not entirely clear when Tenney would be seated in Congress, Galvin said, especially given the pending appeal.

“The House of Representatives controls its own membership. We do not know how quickly they will act, or even if they will act, with appeals pending,” she said. “That is up to them.”

A call to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office was returned by the House Committee on Administration. A spokesman at that committee declined to comment.

Tenney, in a statement, declared victory and thanked Brindisi for his service as a Congressman.

“Now that every legal vote has been counted, it’s time for the results to be certified. The voters need a voice in Congress, and I look forward to getting to work on behalf of New York’s 22nd Congressional District,” she said.

Brindisi, in his response to the judge’s ruling, said a “full audit and hand recount” are necessary to ensure the public trusts the result of the election, given all the errors that have occurred through the counting process.

“With the margin so thin, the ever changing tally, and the countless errors that have occurred arriving at today’s final number we can’t afford to wonder here. We have to get it right,” he said in a statement. “Because this is not a raffle, this is a congressional election.”

DelConte previously ruled against Brindisi’s effort at a recount, but he did temporarily halt the certification to allow both sides to weigh in on a legal question regarding how Tenney could be seated in Congress while appeals are pending.

Brindisi’s statement did not specify how his campaign would try to make a hand recount happen or what his next steps are in fighting to return to Congress.