The count of some of the so called "set-aside" ballots has come in and Murphy's lead has jumped conciderably from 273 to 365.
I'll be analyzing the data and have more to say on it shortly.
The court (Judge Brands) has also made a few rulings that are given here:
http://www.scribd.com/...
And discussed here:
http://www.politickerny.com/...
More to come below the fold shortly...
OK, it looks like the "set-aside" ballot counts came in from Essex and Warren counties. There were 132 additional ballots counted. One from Essex county for Murphy and 131 from Warren county, 111 for Murphy and 20 For Tedisco. So now there have been 5489 ballots counted out of 7146. That leaves just 1657 more to account for (challenged, void and set-aside).
That's a bit at odds with several news reports from Monday and Tuesday which indicated that the total number of "set-aside" ballots to be counted was smaller than that. It looks like Washington and Saratoga counties have not reported any numbers for new counts this week, whcih might indiaated they still have "set-aside" ballots left to count and report tomorrow.
And yes it's a bit surprising that Murphy's lead jumped this much. But on reflection it makes sense since nearly all of the set-aside ballots in Warren county would end up being be good votes for Murphy. But on the other hand, Tedisco might gain that many or more when Saratoga reports their counted "set-aside" ballots (assuming they have any). It might be that nearly all of the "set-aside" ballots existed in just three or four counties. Some counties seem to have reported none at all. Perhaps The County election officials got pissed at Tedisco lawyers in Columbia and Warren counties and tried to put a stop to frivolous challenges and that resulted in many more "set-aside" ballots. We should know by tomorrow morning. All set-asides should be counted and reported by then.
UPDATE # 1
Data:
Of course some of these numbers are still guesses or estimates. It looks like the Saratoga and Otsego County set-asides may be included in their challenged ballot totals, or maybe they don't have any set-asides. We should know by tomorrow.
UPDATE # 2
Wow, just cleaning up tonight and I read this here:
http://blogs.timesunion.com/...
Yeah, we could all see the writing on the wall. The Assembly GOP staff is laying low, staying off the blog now that the Dice Man has lost. The selfish cowards are trying to stay on the public dole and keep the jobs they have no business having to begin with. Just like Tedisco they’re blowhards when times are good, but hiding when the chips are down (or whenever there is anything remotely resembling an intellectual conversation). That’s the way they operate, no loyalty, no plan, no integrity...no brains.
Poor Kolb doesn’t know that these chameleons are going to do the same exact thing to him in a year or so. They’ll be smiling as they stab him in the back when he’s vulnerable.
The whole situation is just terrible for the NYGOP, really quite sad. As evidenced by the race in the 20th, candidate selection is at an all-time low. We have what, 3 GOP congressmen now? No credible candidates for statewide office in 2010 yet (Giuliani and Pataki are the ‘hopefulls’ so far? Puh-lease). You see the Senate GOP employing the same tactics the Assembly GOP used ten years ago, and the Assembly GOP doing absolutely nothing at all at this point. The fact that they let Dice Man campaign for congress all through the session and budget process shows that they’ve given up and don’t even care anymore(about time, it is 108-42).
There is no GOP in NYS anymore. No leadership. No plan. No substance. No hope. That’s the worst of it, no hope.
Comment by RHINO Chaser — April 22nd, 2009 @ 5:49 pm
I'm not from NY so I don't know if this is accurate or not, but it gave a warm fuzzy feel when I read it.
UPDATE # 3
I saw this great diary by devtob that explores aspects of this race other than math about the number of votes to remind us why it's important that we win...
http://www.dailykos.com/...