UPDATE: Padavan vs. Gennaro count back to BOE

A four-judge Appellate Division panel has unanimously ruled to send Board of Elections (BOE) Commissioners back to decide on the fate of paper ballots previously ruled as invalid in the race between incumbent Senator Frank Padavan and City Councilmember James Gennaro.
At issue are roughly 1,750 paper ballots which BOE clerks had ruled to be invalid. All other ballots have been counted and Padavan leads by 580 votes, with 252 “disputed ballots” set aside.
Democrats want to go over the invalid ballots again. Republicans say everyone had a chance to try to redeem any ballots from the invalid ones, and the Democrats are just stalling.
The court said that, “Until the Board of Elections has made a determination whether to cast or refuse to cast the ballots in question, or is deadlocked on the issue; the Supreme Court does not have the jurisdiction to intervene in the process.”
As they were ruling on a motion by Republicans to call an end to the process, the ruling is being hailed as a victory by Democrats.
Gennaro spokesperson Mike Barfield said “Frank Padavan and the Republicans have now asked two different courts to stop the BOE from counting legitimate ballots. Each time the courts have directed that the ballots be reviewed, but Frank Padavan seems to think that the counting of valid votes should stop simply because he is ahead.”
Padavan spokesperson Joe Conway was philosophical.
“The decision simply puts the matter back before the same BOE which has already determined on a bi-partisan basis that these ballots were invalid and unqualified to be cast. Since the Board has a responsibility to protect the integrity of the process – and to ensure that the power of all legally cast votes by Queens residents won’t be diluted – we expect that its earlier determination on these invalid ballots won’t be changed due to any potential political pressure.”
Republicans can still appeal the decision to the state’s highest court. The usual practice is to expedite such cases, so it might be possible for them to prevail before the state Senate resumes on January 7.
If they don’t, the five Democratic and five Republican BOE County Commissioners will have to agree to re-examine the ballot envelopes and records again and rule if any of those that had been ruled invalid by the clerks are valid now.