A very close race in Onondaga County led to a hand count that did not change the winner but changed the final vote slightly, with some votes disqualified. "The removed votes came primarily from voters who either identified themselves (placing their initials on the ballot, for example) or made such small marks inside the oval that it wasn’t clear they even meant to cast a vote (so-called “hesitation marks.”)” "All told, that resulted in in Mannion losing 18 votes and Shiroff losing 11 votes from the recount figures.”
COMMENT: More proof that every vote counts. And that a full hand count in an incredibly close election like this. (thanks to new election law mandating it) is a good thing., . ALLEGRA DENGLER
https://www.syracuse.com/politics/cny/2022/12/mannion-beats-shiroff-by-10-votes-in-50th-ny-senate-district-judge-orders-election-certified.html
• Local & New York State
Mannion beats Shiroff by 10 votes in 50th NY Senate district; judge orders election certified
• Updated: Dec. 19, 2022, 6:38 p.m.
Syracuse, NY — A Central New York judge ruled Monday afternoon that incumbent state Senator John Mannion has won the hotly contested 50th New York Senate race by 10 votes over challenger Rebecca Shiroff.
That’s 10 votes out of 123,148 votes or a 0.008% difference.
The 29-page decision by state Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte narrowed Mannion’s razor-thin victory from 17 votes down to 10 votes after a judicial review. There were more than 123,000 votes cast in the district, which spans parts of Onondaga and Oswego counties.
The judge ordered the election be certified.
Shiroff, a Republican, conceded the race soon after the ruling in a statement to Syracuse.com.
“While we are disappointed about the result of this state Senate race, I am committed to continuing the fight to give a voice to the people of Central New York,” her campaign wrote. “I wish Senator John Mannion all the best and look forward to opportunities to serve my community in the future.”
DelConte’s ruling Monday came in regards to ballots that remained in dispute after a manual recount of the entire district. After that recount, Mannion, a Democrat, led Shiroff, a Republican, by 17 votes.
During an all-day hearing last Wednesday, dueling lawyers argued ballot-by-ballot over the challenges raised during the manual recount. That whittled the challenged ballots down from 186 to 97.
Of those, the lawyers agreed on the spot to 10 reversals, with seven votes removed from Mannion’s tally and three votes removed from Shiroff’s tally.
The judge then issued rulings on the 87 remaining contested ballots. He ended up tossing eight more ballots for Shiroff and 11 for Mannion.
All told, that resulted in in Mannion losing 18 votes and Shiroff losing 11 votes from the recount figures.
With those votes removed, Mannion ended the race with a 10-vote lead, Democratic Onondaga County elections commissioner Dustin Czarny confirmed.
The removed votes came primarily from voters who either identified themselves (placing their initials on the ballot, for example) or made such small marks inside the oval that it wasn’t clear they even meant to cast a vote (so-called “hesitation marks.”)
Both sides agreed to toss ballots that had writing on them outside of write-in candidates.
The judge did not toss ballots over more unusual issues, such as so-called “spiders” (sloppily filling out ballot ovals), nail polish smears or tears in ballots. Those ballots remained counted for the candidate the voter selected in the ballot box.