After a long day of counting ballots from the towns and the city of Rensselaer, Democrat Rich McNally is holding on to a 105 vote lead of Republican Greg Cholakis. Only the City of Troy ballots remain to be counted in this cliff hanger.
There are 680 ballots to be counted in Troy and rumor has it that GOP operative Robert Mirch turned in 250 ballots in Troy which if true, makes this one a CLOSE race. McNally should do very well in Troy given the City Council results and the heavy turnout for Democratic Council candidates especially in District 5 where Ken Zawlewski trounced his opponent. To overcome a 250 ballot stuffing by Mirch, McNally will need every vote. That’s assuming the rumor is accurate.
If 250 of the 680 ballots in Troy are GOP from Mirch, the McNally lead would become a deficit of 145. That would mean McNally much make up that 145 from the remaining 430 ballots in Troy. This race could be decided by as few as 50 votes.
One other factor that may come into play is a machine in Grafton that for two elections has produced an overvote in column 4B. Last time it was for Hillary Clinton in last year’s Senate race. Now the same lever show an over vote of 150 for Greg Cholakis. Apparently, the Board of Elections did not fix the problem with the machine when it was noticed last year.
The issue will only become important if McNally looses by a margin within that over vote. Then Democrats would have to go to court to have a judge decide whether they would be counted or tossed. With Zwack and Platkin, GOP stalwarts hearing such cases, Dems will be heading to the Appellate Division for sure.
Schodack Write In
Ray Lemka’s amazing write in effort shows him with a 10 vote lead. This one is likely to go to court as well. But what a job Ray and his supporters did. It’s an historic event not soon to be matched here or anywhere else.
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