updated Nov.6 11:05am
Farmingville, NY – Congressman Tim Bishop’s spokesman Jon Schneider issued the following statement on the vote count in New York’s 1st Congressional district:
“The vote count released is far from final; rather, this is simply one of many steps to ensure that every voter’s voice is heard through our electoral process. At this point the only way to be sure of the accuracy of the count is to do a full hand recount of all the ballots. Regardless of the outcome, Suffolk County residents need to have confidence in the integrity of the count. There is a reason that Suffolk County residents insisted on having a paper backup and these circumstances demand we use it.
“Nothing is more important than counting every vote and we are confident that once that process is completed, Congressman Bishop will emerge victorious. Congressman Bishop has been a tireless advocate for Long Island families over the course of his career and he looks forward to continuing to work hard on their behalf.”
New tabulations by the Suffolk County Board of Elections put Randy Altschuler 392 votes ahead of Tim Bishop. With 9,900 absentee ballots yet to be counted. No winner has been declared but the Altschuler campaign, according to press person Rob Ryan, is pretty happy. He predicted that absentee ballots would be opened Tuesday, November 9th, he also acknowledged that the final outcome might not be known for some time.
Smithtown Democratic Chairperson Edward Maher confirmed that at this time the re-canvass puts Randy Altschuler in the lead.
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