By all accounts, there will be one vacancy for sure when the new House of Representatives is sworn in Jan. 6 — that for the still-undecided race in New York's 22nd District.
With seven of the eight counties in the upstate district complying with state Supreme Court Judge Scott DelConte's order to recanvass all disputed ballots, Republican former Rep. Claudia Tenney led Democrat Rep. Anthony Brindisi by 19 votes out of more than 325,000 cast.
But, as of Christmas, the counting and deciding of disputed ballots in Oneida County was still incomplete. What is at stake in Oneida, which Brindisi carried with 54% of the vote, are roughly 2,000 ballots being disputed by both candidates.
As of last Wednesday afternoon, 847 affidavit ballots were reviewed in the courtroom, and, excluding votes for third-party candidates or leaving the ballot blank, Brindisi had 125 new votes and Tenney 92 new votes.
With the bulk of the affidavit ballots coming from Democrat bastions Utica and Rome, Brindisi pulled ahead of Tenney by 14 votes districtwide.
But the outcome was so far unknown for another 324 votes approved for counting by Oneida.
Another 626 votes from Oneida had not been counted yet. DelConte's courtroom will resume its hearing on the measure Jan. 4, only two days before the new Congress is sworn in.
It is a forgone conclusion that even if the final count is completed and approved by DelConte, it will not be in time for the member of Congress to take the oath of office with his or her colleagues on Jan. 6.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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