SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Onondaga County delayed the counting of absentee ballots until days after Election Day. That process will be pushed back even further after eight county employees tested positive for COVID-19.
The counting of absentee ballots began on November 10th, but the count will be delayed until after November 30th, when the county is scheduled to resume work.
The Board of Elections closed on Monday, leaving 30,000 ballots still to be counted. The delay does mean that the county will miss their November 28th deadline to certify election results. The county will partially certify election results before officially certifying them in December.
One race that is particularly impacted by the delay in ballot counting is the state senate race between Angi Renna and John Mannion. Renna built a 7,000 vote lead on Election Day, but that total has tightened as absentee ballots were counted.
Renna’s lead had narrowed to 3,786 votes with 30,000 ballots left to be counted before counting stopped. Both candidates have agreed that the outcome of the race will have to be decided after Thanksgiving when ballot counting resumes and observers from both parties can return to the Board of Elections.
