The legal battle over who will take New York's 22nd Congressional District continues more than a month after Election Day, with new updates Tuesday afternoon.

State Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte denied Republican challenger Claudia Tenney's request to certify the results, despite widespread canvassing issues, as she maintained a 12-vote lead over incumbent Democrat Rep. Anthony Brindisi.

Brindisi's campaign had filed a motion to force a recanvass in only some counties in the district. Instead, DelConte ruled all eight counties in the district that spreads from Oswego County to the Mohawk Valley, and down to the Southern Tier, must recanvass their vote tallies.

DelConte wrote that Oswego, Oneida, Madison, Herkimer, Chenango, Broome, and Cortland county boards of elections failed to comply with the “plain and unambiguous statutory mandates governing the performance of their duties” in reference to canvassing affidavits, absentees, military, and special ballots.

What You Need To Know

  • Tenney’s motion to certify her as winner based on the current tally was denied

  • Brindisi’s motion asking the court to direct only select boards of elections to correct “certain canvassing errors – but not all of the problems in all of the counties” was denied, and the judge ordered a full recanvass

  • Boards of elections are ordered to “fulfill their statutory canvassing duties, immediately correct all of the canvassing errors, and where their errors cannot be corrected, re-canvas those ballots”

According to DelConte, there is no evidence or allegations before the court of any fraud on the parts of the boards or campaigns. Additionally, he says there is no evidence the boards’ failures or errors were due to the pandemic.

“Instead," DelConte wrote, "the problems experienced by the candidates and, consequently, all of the voters across the eight counties in New York's 22nd Congressional District, were a direct result of the careless or inadvertent failure to follow the mandate of statute and case law by the Boards of Election.”

“This decision is a win for the people of the 22nd District," Brindisi said in a statment. "As I’ve said all along, the voters of this community deserve to have their voices heard. This margin is too small and the stakes too high to rush to judgement."