# NY-20: Tedisco Asks Court To Overturn Result **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 17, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414 "2009-04-17T14:43:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/21 "2009-04-18T04:15:49Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > The grounds were pretty obviously frivolous, too. I’m not sure why Tedisco thought it would be a good strategy, it just made him look desperate. He just wants to make sure that every vote is counted (except for the ones that are obviously against him.) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/22 "2009-04-18T05:25:53Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Not entirely. One of the requirements to get an absentee ballot in New York State is that you need to certify that expect to be out of the county on election day and therefore unable to vote. If she knew she’d be in the district because she intended to campaign for Murphy, then she shouldn’t have applied for an absentee ballot. You’re right that it looks pitiful, though. Yea, but that’s what I meant. The whole country knows she just had to more or less unexpectedly start a new job in DC, so its not like its beyond belief that she didn’t know whether she would make it back to the district to vote. And its basically an honor system anyways, its not like anyone interrogates the average voter on whether or not they _really_ won’t be in the district to vote or supeonas their day planner to make sure they didn’t really plan to be around when they requested the ballot. Plus she was in DC voting that day, she went to Murphy’s election party, but that was after polls had closed. And even if she had been in the county and had asked for the absentee ballot knowing she would be there, no judge is going to look deep in her soul and say she’s lying and got the absentee ballot on false grounds, Tedisco’s challenge has no hope of being upheld, so it’s frivolous. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/23 "2009-04-18T11:56:53Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Not entirely. One of the requirements to get an absentee ballot in New York State is that you need to certify that expect to be out of the county on election day and therefore unable to vote. If she knew she’d be in the district because she intended to campaign for Murphy, then she shouldn’t have applied for an absentee ballot. > **[GOP Candidate Tedisco Challenged Sen. Gillibrand's Ballot](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-candidate-tedisco-cha_n_186875)** > > GOP Candidate Tedisco Challenged Sen. Gillibrand's Ballot Apparently, there was scheduled to be a vote in the Senate on that date. That’s a pretty good reason to expect to be out of the district. Also, she says she wasn’t in the county. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/24 "2009-04-18T14:26:34Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > While they’re at it, I’d like them to overturn the results of Superbowl XLII and declare the New England Patriots the winners as it’s obvious that the New York Giants points were achieved under shady circumstances. > > What circumstances, you might ask? I wanted the Patriots to win, that’s what. If you’re looking for support Upstate, I suggest asking for the courts to look at [another Giants victory.](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_AeEq2KTB8Pw/R6EKm2Xa7MI/AAAAAAAAAuM/FRP_ew4j7Mg/s320/Scott%2BNorwood.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/25 "2009-04-18T15:02:14Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Yea, but that’s what I meant. The whole country knows she just had to more or less unexpectedly start a new job in DC, so its not like its beyond belief that she didn’t know whether she would make it back to the district to vote. And its basically an honor system anyways, its not like anyone interrogates the average voter on whether or not they _really_ won’t be in the district to vote or supeonas their day planner to make sure they didn’t really plan to be around when they requested the ballot. FWIW, you can vote by special ballot or advanced poll up here for no reason at all, just because you want to. I always do because I’m always busy on election day for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/26 "2009-04-18T15:11:00Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Not entirely. One of the requirements to get an absentee ballot in New York State is that you need to certify that expect to be out of the county on election day and therefore unable to vote. That’s one of the qualifications, it’s not a requirement. You can also qualify if you’re not able to make it to a polling place because of work, or health issues. There’s also the provision to vote early, by filling out an absentee ballot, and handing it in/delivering it to the local BOE. Absentee voting loosened up considerably in the wake of the 2000 elections. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/27 "2009-04-18T22:58:21Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > I would like to take a moment to salute the old grey voting beasts of New York. They may be a bitch to keep running… but they work, and they work well. No, not really. They just appear to work well, without challenges, because there is nothing to check them against, so no way to challenge the results. Sort of like the Diebold paperless electronic voting machines that so many people complain about. With paper ballots like we use in Minnesota, or with the electronic machines with paper receipts, you can recount the paper trail and possibly come up with a slightly different count. But with those old lever machines, all you can do is check that the election workers copied the totals from the machine correctly. (Typo errors like that do happen. Even on paper trail machines. Frankens’ largest single vote gain was when such an error was found the day after the election – before the recount was even started.) And it’s fairly easy to jigger one of those machines so that votes for a specific candidate are not added into the totals, without the voter knowing that. We have a couple of those antique machines in the City Elections warehouse, and an old-timer once showed me how that could be done. And all it took was a pencil stub. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/28 "2009-04-18T23:52:42Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > That’s one of the qualifications, it’s not a requirement. > > You can also qualify if you’re not able to make it to a polling place because of work, or health issues. > > There’s also the provision to vote early, by filling out an absentee ballot, and handing it in/delivering it to the local BOE. > > Absentee voting loosened up considerably in the wake of the 2000 elections. Here’s the absentee ballot request: [http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/absentee.pdf](http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/absentee.pdf) If you choose that you expect to be absent on election day due to work, you have to check the box “I expect to be absent from my county, or the city of New York, State of New York, because my duties, occupation, studies, or vacation require me to be elsewhere as follows”, and then you have to describe where you plan to be and give dates. and the New York State voting law says, in appropriate part: > [@](#): > > 1. A qualified voter may vote as an absentee voter under this chapter if, on the occurrence of any village election conducted by the board of elections, primary election, special election, general election or New York city community school board district or city of Buffalo school district election, he will be: > (a) unavoidably absent from the county of his residence, or, if a resident of the city of New York absent from said city, because his duties, occupation, business, or studies require him to be elsewhere on the day of election; New York doesn’t allow early voting. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/29 "2009-04-19T00:02:32Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > New York doesn’t allow early voting. I don’t know what’s going on, then. I voted early this past election. Filled out a paper ballot in the BOE office, signed on the dotted line, and was done a week before the election. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/30 "2009-04-19T00:05:49Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > While they’re at it, I’d like them to overturn the results of Superbowl XLII and declare the New England Patriots the winners as it’s obvious that the New York Giants points were achieved under shady circumstances. Could someone do something about the 2000 Presidential election too? I like Barack and all, but there wouldn’t be a fraction of the mess to clean up. Plus a lot of people would still be alive who are now currently very very dead. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/31 "2009-04-19T00:07:40Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > This is only \*two \*in a row if you don’t count Ted Stevens claiming entitlement to a new Senate election now that the charges against him have been dropped. If you do, it’s three. Oh, he **didn’t!** :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/32 "2009-04-19T00:09:22Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > That doesn’t count, because Stevens didn’t do that. It was one of Palin’s crew, then Palin herself. Somehow that seems to make it even worse. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414/33 "2009-04-25T07:18:51Z")
[del]Disco stu[/del] Tedisco finally saw the light: [http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/nyregion/25murphy.html?hp](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/nyregion/25murphy.html?hp) > [@](#): > > The victory by Mr. Murphy, who will succeed Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the House of Representatives, became official when the Republican candidate, State Assemblyman James N. Tedisco, conceded in a phone call to Mr. Murphy and in a statement released just before 4 p.m. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-20-tedisco-asks-court-to-overturn-result/493414.md?page=1)