The new margin between Republican candidate David Storobin and Democrat Lew Fidler is 118.
Although revisiting the voting machine memory sticks resulted in a slight expansion of Mr. Storobin’s 120-vote lead on Election Night last Tuesday to 143, reconciling the differing reports this afternoon gave Mr. Fidler an additional 25 votes on his margin.
Counting the write-in ballots at the Board of Elections is set to begin in a few minutes, which may cause the gap to change again later today, depending on the speed the process moves forward.
Regardless, everyone following the race is most closely eyeing the 757 valid absentee ballots that will be counted next week, plus however many invalid absentee ballots will be successfully contested, to see if Mr. Fidler can ultimately overcome his deficit.
Despite this constantly changing dynamic, the Chairman of the New York State Republican Party, Ed Cox, sent out a press release congratulating Mr. Storobin on his [currently non-existent] victory.
“While this is an historic win for Senate Republicans, it is an embarrassing and devastating defeat for Senate Democrats,” Mr. Cox said in the statement.
Update: The Senate Democrats responded to Mr. Cox’s statement with a press release of their own:
“As much as they would like it to be so, Republican fantasies do not conform to reality. With more than 1,000 ballots left to be counted and the margin shrinking to 118, we remain optimistic that Lew Fidler will prevail in Brooklyn.
As we move into the election season, the inevitability of Democratic victories all across this state are evident to every objective observer. While I understand the Republicans’ panic, it does not justify their wild and false claims.
Voters are clamoring for a progressive Senate majority that will defend working people, protect women’s health and preserve our environment. Democrats will provide that for them.”
