By Emily Cadei CQ Staff
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand s vote in the special election to choose her replacement shouldnt be counted Republican Jim Tedisco contends.
Tedisco the GOP nominee in the race for the 20th Congressional District seat vacated by Gillibrand challenged the Democratic senators absentee ballot according to the Albany Times Union.
The report said Republican lawyers are arguing that Gillibrand was in the county on Election Day campaigning for Democrat Scott Murphy and should have voted in person.
County election commissioners did not return a message seeking confirmation that the challenge had been filed.
Gillibrand spokesman Matt Canter said if such challenge was filed it would be frivolous and without merit."
Sen. Gillibrand requested and completed an absentee ballot because she did not expect to be able to vote at her polling location since votes were scheduled in the Senate that day" Canter wrote in an e-mail. Furthermore Republican claims that she was in the county are false. She was not in Columbia County on Election Day."
Tediscos attorneys have questioned a large proportion of ballots in Columbia County because they claim they are from voters who have second homes in the district but do not reside there and thus should not be eligible.
Tedisco campaign spokesman Tyler Brown did not directly confirm the challenge Monday. Rather he defended the campaigns handline of the absentee count saying Representatives of each campaign are speaking up if they feel that a particular ballot deserves a second look from the judge."
Five of the districts 10 counties still had not completed their counts as of 4 p.m. Tuesday.
Tuesday also marked the beginning of counting of overseas and military ballots.
According to an unofficial tally by the New York Board of Elections Murphy leads Tedisco by 47 votes.
Local officials are now in their second week of counting absentee ballots and estimate it could be another week or two before all the absentee ballots are counted and all challenged ballots reviewed.
A state Supreme Court hearing is set for Wednesday morning to hash out the next phase of ballot counting and the process for hearing challenges.
