Officials find 12 uncounted ballots in a drawer in race where GOP challenger leads by a dozen votes

A New York Supreme Court justice said that election officials have found 12 uncounted ballots in a drawer that could affect a race where the GOP congressional candidate holds a slim 12-vote lead.

“WOW: Justice DelConte casually mentions an additional 12 ballots were found in Chenango County in a drawer last week,” said local CBS reporter Josh Rosenblatt on Twitter. “This is on top of the 55 ballots I reported were found last week, now making it 67 found ballots.”

Of the 55 uncounted ballots found last week, 11 were found to have been cast by unregistered voters.

The news came during a hearing that Rosenblatt described as “contentious,” with incumbent Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi currently trailing GOP challenger Claudia Tenney by 12 votes. Tenney’s legal team has said that the court should certify the election results as they currently stand, arguing that the court does not have the legal authority to declare whether or not the ballots found are legal.

All together, the uncounted ballots would be enough to swing the election’s outcome.

Brindisi’s campaign is calling for an audit of the election results, arguing that there have been errors in the counting process. The campaign pointed to Oneida County, where local election officials used sticky notes to identify disputed ballots.

Judge Scott DelConte criticized both sides during the Monday hearing, accusing the Tenney campaign of trying to certify election results they know are inaccurate and the Brindisi campaign of fighting for recounts in counties they know are politically advantageous.

“The one thing that I’m supposed to do is make sure that others follow the law,” DelConte told Tenney’s legal team. “It seems to me that your argument is: ‘There’s so many problems here. There’s so many issues here that you have to certify the results.’ Isn’t that what you’re saying?”

“That’s the problem with your argument,” DelConte told Brindisi’s lawyers. “You pick and choose what errors you want fixed.”

DelConte said he expects to have a ruling soon but wants to make sure the law is followed.

“None of the lawyers here want to win a lawsuit. They want to win an election,” he said. “But the role of the court here, as I see, is to make sure that everyone follows the law.”