GOSHEN – At present, Democratic State Senator James Skoufis is ahead of Republican challenger Dorey Houle in the new 42nd District by 1,180 ballots.
There are 1,536 affidavit ballots outstanding and 530 absentee ballots. Of those absentee ballots counted Thursday, Skoufis has 325 to Houle’s 192 for a total of 517. There was one overvote and 12 undervotes.
Houle said opening, counting and addressing challenges by the Orange County Board of Elections could be completed by Thanksgiving.
“I remain hopefully optimistic “about the outcome of the election, she told Mid-Hudson News on Thursday.
“We are gratified that Dorey Houle’s desperate attempt to deny the 2022 election has begun to collapse in court,” said Orange County Democratic Committee Chairman Zak Constantine. “Yesterday, an Acting Supreme Court Justice rejected Ms. Houle’s demands to prevent votes from being counted in Orange County, and he has allowed the Board of Elections to resume their diligent work on behalf of the public, after five days of being unable to do so. Once these counts are complete, James Skoufis will maintain his already substantial lead and be certified as the County’s State Senator.”
Constantine said, “Election denialism has no place in politics. Orange County completed a vigorous and competitive election day that we can all be proud of, but certification of results has been stalled in every local race due to this baseless lawsuit. Contrary to her claim of wanting to ‘count every ballot’, Ms. Houle’s suit would exclude lawful votes. We thank the voters, poll workers and candidates from both parties who participated in the 2022 election and look forward to the timely resolution of this unsubstantiated litigation and a final ruling that upholds our state’s pro-democracy values.”
