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Contested NY Senate seat vote goes to top court

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Dave Lucas
Published January 16, 2013 at 12:37 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's highest court will soon decide whether to count additional ballots in a tight state Senate race.

Both Republican George Amedore and Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk (KAT'-chik) have filed appeals over ballots in the new 46th Senate District. .

lthough a judge in December declared Amedore the winner by 37 votes out of 126,000 ballots cast, a midlevel court last week ordered 99 ballots added to the tally.

Most were challenged by Republicans.

The Court of Appeals has stayed that order and called for replies Monday. The court could rule Tuesday.

A Tkaczyk win would give Democrats a 33-seat majority. However, five breakaway Democrats have allied with 31 Republicans in a ruling coalition.

Also, Brooklyn Democratic Sen. Simcha Felder is sitting with the Republicans

(c) 2013 Associated Press
New York News
Dave Lucas
Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.
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