The final votes will be counted Tuesday in a local race that ended primary election night as too close to call. 14-term State Assemblyman Bill Magnarelli of Syracuse ended primary night trailing county legislator Maurice “Mo” Brown.
Brown is a Democratic Socialist and is challenging Magnarelli from the left in a year when DSA candidates in New York City staged upset wins against incumbents and candidates endorsed by the Democratic Party. Brown would be the first DSA candidate to win in the state outside of New York City.
Brown holds an 82 vote lead going into Tuesday’s count of absentee and affidavit ballots. His current lead – 1.3% above Magnarelli – may be slim but it’s above the level needed to trigger an automatic recount by hand of every vote cast.
At least 120 absentee ballots will be counted Tuesday, with another 16 in the midst of being certified for counting. 70 ballots cast by affidavit will also be counted. Voters cast an affidavit ballot when they arrive to vote but are told they do not appear in the book of registered voters. The voter then has a week to prove they were properly registered. There’s also one emergency ballot that will be counted.
Magnarelli won about 70% of the absentee ballots that were counted on primary day, but Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said there’s no way to predict how Tuesday’s count will go.
“One could make the argument that (Magnarelli) should win the absentees the way he won the absentees and Mo should win the affidavits the way he won the election day, but what I have found is that late-breaking ballots just react differently than everybody else.”
A rough calculation shows a steep mountain for Magnarelli to climb. He’ll need roughly 70% of Tuesday’s votes in order to take a lead and a little over 60% of those votes to get close enough to force a recount by hand.
