I went down to Hudson to observe the absentee ballot count for Columbia County at the Board of Election in Hudson.
While there are a number of challenged ballots, the ones counted run strongly in Murphy's favor. More below the fold.
Murphy is doing very well in the absentee vote count for Columbia County. This county gave Murphy a good margin of victory and had the highest number of absentee ballots requested/cast.
If you just want numbers, you can stop here. The absentee ballot count is going slowly - only 5 out of 18 towns have counted, plus the city of Hudson.
Background:
The Board of Election has 6 positions – BOE Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and Observer. There is a Democrat and Republican for each of these position. Third parties are not represented on the Board.
As alleged, Tedisco’s lawyer challenged a number of ballots, claiming the absentee voter was not a resident of the county. He even claimed that some voters were registered and voting downstate and upstate. That drew a blistering rebuke from Murphy’s lawyer, pointing out that Tedisco’s lawyer was claiming that those voters were committing a felony.
A ballot is examined twice. First,the ballot is checked against a list of absentee ballot requests. The signature on the back of the envelope is matched to the signature on the request. The postmark date is checked to see if it was mailed in on time
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As each name was read out, Tedisco’s lawyer challenged ones he had on a list, claiming they did not live in Columbia County. It was quickly agreed that poll workers’ absentee ballots would not be challenged. After reviewing one ballot from a voter born in 1916, Tedisco’s lawyer stipulated that he would not challenge an absentee ballot from anyone over 80.
In most of the cases, his challenge was overruled by the Democratic and Republican commissioners. This led to a discussion of what to do with these ballots. After trying to reach the county attorney and only reaching a lawyer in that department, it was agreed that challenged ballots which both Commissioners overruled would be set aside and not opened until a judge decided whether or not the ballot could be counted.
In a couple of cases one or the other Commissioner sustained a challenge. The ballot was not opened or counted, so I assume that when the Commissioners split on a decision the ballot goes to the judge.
All in all, Murphy’s lawyer was very strong. He raised objections to some of the ballots. This is not as strong as challenging a ballot, but it does provide him the ability to litigate the ballot later.
So, the only decision made about ballots at this time are ones that are rejected by the Commissioners berceuse they did not meet the requirements for absentee voting. These were a few that were postmarked too late, or when the ballot was so marked up no one could determine who the absentee was voting for.
Since this is the case, there is no need to do further observing at absentee ballot counts, unless you are curious about how it is done.