Report: Democrats face voter fraud allegations after ballot review by Dem judge erased Republican lead

Democrats are reportedly facing voter fraud accusations in an extremely tight New York congressional race that resulted in a Republican candidate having her lead over a Democratic incumbent completely erased, the Washington Examiner reported.

What are the details?

On election night, freshman Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi (N.Y.) trailed Republican challenger Claudia Tenney by over 28,000 votes. Then, as mail-in ballots were counted over the coming weeks, Brindisi's deficit was erased, and he trailed Tenney by just 100-200 votes, the Examiner noted.

That's when Oswego County state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte, a Democrat, intervened, reviewing "spoiled" ballots that had been initially rejected, which gave Brindisi the lead — by just 13 votes.

"BREAKING: sources on both Dem & GOP sides confirm that the final counts submitted by all 8 counties in #NY22 to NY Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte will show Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D) *ahead* of Claudia Tenney (R) by either 12 or 13 votes. Wow," Cook Report's Dave Wasserman reported following the development.

"In NY-22, the Democrat incumbent was trailing by almost 30K on election night. The mail-in ballots got him close. Then a Democrat judge from Syracuse ruled he would personally 'review' all of the spoiled ballots that had been rejected. Guess what happened next," Hot Air editor Jazz Shaw explained. "The judge miraculously 'found' enough ballots that he felt were okay and the incumbent now 'leads' by 13 votes."

How did the campaigns respond?

Despite the narrow gap, Brindisi responded to the judge's actions by declaring victory.

"This process and the integrity of our election are critical to our republic. This judicial review has been fair, open, honest, and transparent and I remain confident that voters' voices will be heard," Brindisi said. "In January I will be sworn in and continue to work with both parties and stand up to anyone on behalf of all of New York's 22nd district."

Meanwhile, Tenney's campaign explained in a statement they essentially believe that voter fraud gave Brindisi the edge.

Campaign spokesman Sean Kennedy said, according to WSTM-TV:

Governor Cuomo's unfair, unwise, and unilateral rules changes and administrative burdens overwhelmed our voting system and created this utter dysfunction. As a result, the law was not followed when ballots were challenged and tabulated in this election. The result remains far from resolved. Hundreds of ineligible ballots were illegally or improperly cast including votes by the dead, non-residents, or unregistered voters. Those ballots should not – and must not – be counted. The hearing in court has already established that the current tally includes invalid votes and that the process to review and count the massive amount of paper ballots is fractured. Today's misleading and inaccurate tally is rife with errors and mistakes that must be rectified before this election is certified. It is far from final. Our team will fight to ensure the rights of every voter who cast a legal and proper ballot are preserved and not diluted. We cannot sacrifice accuracy for speed. When that is done, we feel strongly that Claudia Tenney will be certified the winner of the race for the 22nd District of New York.

Anything else?

On Monday, all eight counties in New York's 22nd Congressional District delivered their first official cumulative vote count, showing Tenney with the lead — by just 12 votes, 155,492-155,480.

Tenney's lead was later corrected by a single additional vote after one county revised its final tally.

However, the final winner of the race will be decided by about 2,500 contested mail-in ballots, according to Syracuse.com.