NY-20: Battle Ahead Over Absentee Ballots
Posted Apr 15, 2009 at 10:22 AM
Maurice Berger, Political Director, PollTrack
Minnesota all over again? Politico reports that there is a battle brewing over absentee ballots in the hotly contested--and now virtually tied--NY-20 special election: "Just like in the Minnesota Senate recount, the special election in New York’s Twentieth District looks like it will be determined by disputed absentee ballots. Both campaigns have already challenged the legality of around 600 absentee ballots, which have been pulled aside and not included in the current count. Democrats estimate that the majority of the challenges -- about 60 percent – have come from Republican Jim Tedisco. Indeed, Republicans have been especially aggressive in challenging absentee ballots in Columbia County, which Murphy won on Election Night by more than 1,880 votes. Tedisco has already challenged at least 63 absentee ballots there, and the campaign has flagged around 200 absentee ballots as questionable.Tedisco’s campaign has also challenged several dozen absentees in Dutchess County, another county that backed Murphy. Nearly all of Tedisco’s challenges center on the voters’ residency. Republicans are arguing that voters who establish a primary residence outside the district – and receive tax benefits there – are ineligible to vote in the district. Democrats dispute that interpretation of state election law, and argue that as long as voters are registered at one address, they’re eligible to vote there."
