A Democratic candidate caught in the final uncalled House race in New York appears to be adopting a Trumpian strategy.
The legal team for Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi, who trails former Rep. Claudia Tenney, a Republican, by 122 votes in the 22nd Congressional District, argued in a court filing on Monday that voting machines are to blame for errors affecting hundreds of ballots.
“In this case, there is reason to believe that voting tabulation machines misread hundreds if not thousands of valid votes as undervotes, and that these tabulation machine errors disproportionately affected Brindisi,” Brindisi's lawyers wrote, according to the Associated Press.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies challenged the accuracy of voting machines in the 2020 presidential election, which was won by President Biden, allegations that were sternly rejected by election officials, voting technology companies, and the courts. Tabulation problems, such as in Antrim County, Michigan, have been attributed to human error.
Now, companies such as Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic are engaging in a widespread legal campaign against those who claimed their equipment and software were involved in election fraud.
Lawyers for Brindisi and Tenney are heading back to court on Friday, after a judge halted the certification of the race, to argue over whether someone should be seated in Congress, risking the chance that the court later overturns the results.
Brindisi’s campaign asked New York Supreme Court Justice Scott DelConte for an audit that may end up in a recount of all 325,000 ballots cast, but the judge noted last week that the court cannot call for a new election or recount. Tenney declared herself the victor this week. "Ballots have been scrutinized and we are confident all legal votes have been counted," her campaign said in a statement.
Democrats currently hold a narrow majority in the House, with 221 seats to 211 for Republicans. Along with the open New York 22nd Congressional District, two Louisiana seats are open after the death of Republican Rep.-elect Luke Letlow and Democratic Rep. Cedric Richmond resigning to join the Biden administration.
Editor's note: This report has been updated to reflect Cedric Richmond leaving Congress.
