The blogosphere has been abuzz about a reported filing by Republican Congressional candidate Jim Tedisco, asking to be declared the winner in the NY-20 special election. Does the filing really say that he should be declared the winner, notwithstanding the fact that he’s down in the count?
Not exactly. I’ve now had the chance to look through the filing, and what it really does is formally state Tedisco’s goal of being declared the winner — after all, you can’t go to court without some kind of specified goal — and then it goes into the various complaints that Tedisco has, mainly relating to challenges against Murphy voters as being allegedly ineligible to vote in the election.
The Tedisco campaign clarified to The Hill that this filing was made in order to establish Tedisco’s legal standing, as an “insurance policy” against questions about the standing of the local party officials who first challenged the election before the polls even closed.
So make no mistake that Tedisco is contesting this result — but that’s not news, as the litigation has been going on literally since Election Day. This latest filing is just one more procedural step along the way.
Late Update: The document is available here, including the judge’s order for the parties to respond in court at Monday’s scheduled hearing.
