Deja Vu all over again and it comes down to 86 challenged ballots in the town of Taghkanic, a second-home community 105 miles from the center of Manhattan.
All together, 297 absentee ballots were challenged in Columbia County during the almost weeklong examination of absentee and affidavit ballots cast in the November 3 election. The greatest scrutiny in the process was given to the towns where the absentee ballots would decide the outcome of elections: Taghkanic, Ancram, Austerlitz, Claverack, and Stuyvesant. In the end, with 297 ballots challenged and uncounted, the outcome of some of the races seemed fairly clear—but not all of them.
In Ancram, Art Bassin led Thomas Dias 331 to 305, with 21 ballots challenged; in Austerlitz, Jeff Braley led George Jahn 368 to 304, with 65 ballots challenged; in Claverack, Robin Andrews led Jim Keegan 932 to 908, with 43 ballots challenged; in Stuyvesant, Valerie Bertram led Lee Jamison 378 to 349, with 35 ballots challenged; and in Taghkanic, Betty Young led Loretta Hoffman 322 to 255, with 86 ballots challenged.
Last Tuesday, the Republicans announced that they were dropping their challenges to all ballots except those from Taghkanic. The apparent reason for the focus on Taghkanic is that the challenged ballots—many from second-home owners who are also registered Democrats— could tip the election in Hoffman’s favor and unseat long-term Republican supervisor Betty Young. But as far as the voters whose ballots have been challenged are concerned, it’s déjà vu all over again. The right of second-home owners—the majority of whom are Democrats— to be registered and to vote in Columbia County is once again being challenged by the Republicans.
Back in April, when Republican James Tedisco conceded to Democrat Scott Murphy, and State Supreme Court Judge James V. Brands ordered all remaining challenged ballots to be counted, John Ciampoli, lead attorney for the Tedisco campaign, made the prediction: “This won’t end here.” And indeed it didn’t. The November 3 election inspired a new and determined challenge to voters who maintain two homes—one in New York City and the other in Columbia County—and are registered to vote in Columbia County.
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