Anthony Brindisi netted an additional 324 votes in Madison County on Thursday, increasing his lead over Rep. Claudia Tenney to 1,824 votes in the undecided 22nd Congressional District race.
Brindisi managed to pull off the upset over Tenney, 1,063 to 739, in a count of absentee and affidavit ballots, according to unofficial election returns from the Madison County Board of Elections.
The outcome was a setback for Tenney in a county she won by almost 4 percentage points on Election Day. Absentee ballots usually mirror the results from election night.
Madison County marked Brindisi's second victory Thursday. Earlier, Brindisi won the absentee and affidavit vote in Cortland County (612-405), with a net gain of 207 votes.
The six other counties in the 22nd District have not finished counting ballots in a race where Brindisi led by 1,293 votes, or less than 1 percentage point (49.51 to 48.97 percent) on election night.
Broome County, one of the two largest counties in the district, is expected to report unofficial results of the absentee and affidavit count on Friday. Brindisi won the county by 11 percentage points on Election Day.
22nd Congressional District absentee ballots
Note: Totals may not add up because some absentee or affidavit ballots were disqualified or challenged. Total votes combines absentee and affidavit ballots in Cortland, Chenango and Madison counties.
| County | Mailed | Returned | Brindisi | Tenney |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oswego | 874 | 745 | 0 | 0 |
| Madison | 2,228 | 1,910 | 1063 | 739 |
| Oneida | 5,324 | 4,182 | 0 | 0 |
| Cortland | 1,214 | 1090 | 612 | 405 |
| Broome | 5,093 | 4,252 | 0 | 0 |
| Herkimer | 1,256 | 997 | 0 | 0 |
| Tioga | 255 | 183 | 0 | 0 |
| Chenango | 1,384 | 1,153 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 17,629 | 14,364 | 1675 | 1144 |
If the absentee and affidavit count breaks in the same way as the Election Day vote in Broome County, it would make it almost impossible for Tenney to pull off a victory. She would need to win more than two-thirds of the absentee votes in the remaining five counties -- Oneida, Herkimer, Oswego, Chenango and Tioga.
Contact Mark Weiner: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751