The Oneida County Board of Elections ignored a state law in the November election, a failure that meant 700 voters’ ballots weren’t counted for President and big statewide races.
The mistake — Oneida County’s latest — surfaced as part of a court case between Democrat Anthony Brindisi and Republican Claudia Tenney as they fight for the 22nd Congressional District seat. The seat is the last undecided Congressional district in the country and is now divided by 29 votes of 311,695 cast for the two candidates.
The 700 voters were among about 1,800 whose affidavit ballots were initially rejected by the county elections board.
A ruling in early December from state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte meant the 1,800 ballots were reviewed again, and that’s when the error was discovered. The votes were restored for the Congressional race, but were not in time for the presidential and other races.