Tedisco asks to be labeled winner

Jim Tedisco has asked the Dutchess County Supreme Court to asking to be declared the winner of the NY-20 special election.

Tedisco trails by around 170 votes, by most recent tallies, so it’s unclear what the logic is for his request. BBR will try to clarify the situation when details emerge.

More from the Register Star:

Tedisco is also asking the court to authorize recanvasing of all machine ballots to acquire the proper tallies. He would like them to reassess the validity of absentee votes already counted, and keep ballots challenged by Tedisco unopened. County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Virginia Martin said this new development could result in the election taking quite a bit more time to be decided. She would not venture a guess on how long it will be before the 20th District has a representative in congress.

UPDATE: We’ve received some clarification from the Tedisco campaign. The purpose of the petition was simply to mirror a similar motion filed two weeks ago that named Joe Mondello, Chairman of the New York Republican Party, as plaintiff. Murphy’s lawyers had raised questions about Mondello’s standing, so the Tedisco campaign re-filed the motion last night as an “insurance policy”–it was not meant as a new effort to be declared winner in spite of the vote count.

The petition is “procedurally something we are utilizing to make sure we maintain the standing necessary to maintain the court’s oversight of the recount,” said James Walsh, counsel to the Tedisco campaign. “This just brings Mr. Tedisco as a plaintiff to make sure we preserve all of our rights.”