55 ‘Mislaid’ Ballots Found in NY Race Where Republican Tenney Leads House Rep. Brindisi By 12 Votes

Yesterday, we reported that an updated vote count that was ordered by a judge to be due by 4 p.m. showed Republican “marine mom” Claudia Tenney ahead by 12 votes over Rep. Anthony Brindisi in the New York 22nd Congressional District race.

Judge Scott DelConte had told each of the eight counties in the state’s 22nd Congressional District not to amend the official vote totals submitted to the court on Monday.

The election took another twist today when Chenango County, one of the 9 counties in the district, told a judge that it found 55 uncounted ballots.

In an email to state Judge DelConte, Chenango County Attorney Alan Gordon said, “Those ballots were apparently mislaid and never counted.”

Gordon said election officials determined 44 of the ballots are valid, but that 11 of the ballots are not valid because the voters were not registered.

According to syracuse.com, Chenango County Elections Commissioner Carol Franklin said that all of the newly discovered ballots were affidavit ballots submitted during the state’s nine-day early voting period.

Gordon told syracuse.com that his “guess is they came in early and they were put aside and mislaid” and he said that county election officials did not provide him with any more details.

“I would hope that we could open them tomorrow with representatives present from each campaign,” Gordon added, however.