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Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) has filed a lawsuit asking a judge to oversee the count of nearly 70,000 absentee ballots in his congressional race against Democratic challenger Dana Balter.

Katko was leading Balter by about 55,000 votes by the end of Election Day, but he will ask for increased oversight of the thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots yet to be counted in the race for the 24th Congressional District.

The three-term incumbent declared victory over Balter on Tuesday night, when he was leading by about 20 percentage points after all in-person votes from Election Day and the early voting period had been counted. Balter’s campaign, though, issued a statement declining to concede until all absentee votes had been counted. 

Katko totaled 155,830 votes after all ballots cast in-person before and on Election Day had been counted. Balter received 100,728 votes, according to New York state’s Board of Elections. 

New York state will not start counting absentee ballots until Nov. 9. The number of ballots that Democrats returned in the 24th Congressional District would likely not surpass Katko’s existing lead over Balter.

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Lamendola will hear Katko’s request, though a date or time for the hearing has yet to be set. Lamendola, who is also hearing a similar lawsuit by Republican Angi Renna, said during a virtual hearing Thursday that he was hesitant to get involved in the election process. 

“I’m not inclined to interfere with the Board of Elections process,” he said. 

Katko joins other Democratic and Republican candidates across the region filing similar lawsuits. State Sen. Rachel May (D- Syracuse) is asking a judge to provide similar oversight in her 53rd District race against Republican Sam Rodgers. 

Published on November 6, 2020 at 12:44 am

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3