A campaign official for Democrat Eric Massa said Thursday it was a “statistical impossibility” for U.S. Rep. John R. “Randy” Kuhl Jr., R-Hammondsport, to win the 29th Congressional District.

Although both The Associated Press and CNN projected Massa the winner, neither candidate claimed victory or conceded Tuesday night.

About 4,400 votes separated the two candidates, with approximately 11,000 absentee ballots uncounted. Tuesday’s election results had Massa leading the two-term incumbent, 129,775 to 125,709.

Justin Schall, campaign manager for Massa, said the math is not in Kuhl’s favor.

“There are approximately 11,000 absentee ballots out there that have not been counted,” Schall said. “We fully expect those 11,000 votes are going to break almost exactly the way the results of the general election broke. We believe it is a statistical impossibility for Randy Kuhl to make up the 4,400 votes he is down. At this point he would have to win 75 percent of the remaining ballots.”

Schall stopped short, however, of claiming victory for Massa.

“We do not believe there is any reason why suddenly the absentee ballots will break three-to-one for Congressman Kuhl at the end of the election,” Schall said. “Even if he had a five-point swing, beating us in absentee ballots, 53-47 percent, he will still not win the election.”

Schall said Massa won the absentee ballots by a 1,500-vote margin when the two candidates first faced each other in 2006.

Meghan Tisinger, Kuhl’s spokesman, called the claim “completely and totally inaccurate.”

Tisinger said more absentee ballots continue to trickle in addition to the approximately 11,000 uncounted absentee ballots already in hand.

Any absentee ballot postmarked on or before Nov. 3 must be counted.

Lawyers representing Kuhl filed an injunction Wednesday to have the voting machines and absentee ballots impounded. The two sides will appear before Steuben County Judge Peter Bradstreet Wednesday to hammer out a procedure for counting the absentee ballots and canvassing the voting machines.

Similar legal action was taken by Massa in 2006 prior to conceding defeat.

Schall said lawyers representing Massa will be in contact with Kuhl’s lawyers to try to work out an arrangement between the two campaigns before the Wednesday court date.

Attorney William Pulos confirmed the Kuhl campaign would be open to settling the issue before Wednesday.

Schall said he anticipated Massa could declare victory before the final vote is counted, but stressed that every absentee ballot will be counted during the process.

“At some point, it will become a mathematical impossibility for Congressman Kuhl to win,” Schall said. “That won’t mean the process will stop. Every single ballot will be counted. At a certain point, our margin of victory will exceed how many ballots are left.”

Source: The Leader