No decision yet in Padavan vs. Gennaro

With just a few court days left until the end of the year, there’s still no declared winner in the race for the 11th State Senate District, between incumbent Frank Padavan and his challenger Democrat City Councilmember James Gennaro.
Since Friday, December 19, the matter has been in the hands of a panel of Appellate judges in Brooklyn.
Republicans want them to toss out Supreme Court judge Kevin Kerrigan’s order to allow another examination of about 1,750 paper ballot envelopes that had been previously ruled invalid by Board of Elections (BOE) clerks, and declare Padavan the winner.
After initial reports on Election Night, showing Padavan ahead by 730 votes out of some 93,000 ballots, Kerrigan ordered the voting machines impounded and the tallies “recanvassed,” or double-checked.
He also ordered a procedure for dealing with all the other paper ballots, which included the instruction, “Any and all ballots unanimously found to be invalid and/or improper shall be laid aside and preserved by said Boards and shall not be canvassed.”
Republicans are saying that Kerrigan’s order has been followed and with the counting done, Padavan is ahead by 580 votes - with only 252 disputed ballots left to be reviewed - and should be declared the winner.
Kerrigan has adjourned his courtroom until Tuesday, January 6. The State Senate is due to convene for its new session the next day.
If the Appellate judges do not decide in Padavan’s favor soon, there’s a good chance that nobody will be representing the 11th District when the session begins.