Dana Balter will not concede the race for New York’s 24th Congressional District until all absentee ballots are counted, Balter’s campaign said in a statement Wednesday. 

Balter, a Democrat, is running against three-time incumbent Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) to represent the district in Congress. Katko declared victory over Balter on Tuesday night, when he was leading by about 20 percentage points after all in-person votes from Election Day and the early voting period had been counted. 

Katko totaled 155,830 votes after all ballots cast in-person before and on Election Day had been counted. Balter received 100,728 votes, according to New York state’s Board of Elections. 

“With over 70,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted in our race — and more still being returned — our campaign will not be commenting on the outcome until the election staff have had appropriate time to tally all the votes,” Balter said in the statement.

New York state will not start counting absentee ballots until Nov. 9. The number of ballots that Democrats returned in the 24th Congressional District would likely not surpass Katko’s existing lead over Balter. Democrats returned slightly over 33,000 absentee ballots as of Tuesday, while Republicans returned about 16,600, Syracuse.com found.

Balter said she is “heartened” by the record-breaking voter turnout in New York’s 24th Congressional District. An estimated 233,000 ballots were cast in Onondaga County as of Tuesday night, surpassing the county’s voter turnout record of 220,000 votes in 2008.

“Our democracy is strengthened by increased engagement in our voting process, and it is critical that we allow our democratic process to play out in every single race, including the presidential race,” Balter said.

New York’s 24th Congressional District consists of Onondaga, Cayuga and Wayne counties and parts of Oswego County. After polls in New York state closed at 9 p.m, Katko led the race in every county in the district.

Balter will monitor election results as the district’s boards of elections continue to count ballots. 

“In an election with unprecedented use of mail-in voting, we must allow time for all mail-in ballots to be counted. Every voter’s voice must be heard,” she said. 

Katko defeated Balter by about 6 percentage points in the 2018 congressional race for the district.

Published on November 4, 2020 at 3:53 pm

Contact Abby: akweiss@syr.edu | @abbyweiss_21