The review of ballots continues in NY-22 even thought Judge DelConte is on vacation this week. We still don’t know what the final unofficial tally is but we do know that as of yesterday the lead in the race had shifted once again. A few days ago, there was a report that Democrat Anthony Brindisis had taken the lead in the race by 14 votes. Now further counting of disputed ballots in the same county has given Republican challenger Claudia Tenney the lead.

Republican Claudia Tenney has re-taken the lead, albeit a small one, in the continuing saga of New York’s 22nd Congressional District election, according to her campaign.

Tenney has a lead of about 30 votes, according to her campaign spokesman Sean Kennedy. That figure was also confirmed by an attorney familiar with the count.

I’ve honestly lost track but I think this is the 5th time the lead has shifted since election day. Before the current recanvas began, Tenney has a 12-vote lead. That lead grew to 19 votes and then dropped to 3-5 votes before Brindisi took the lead by 14 votes. Most of this has been driven by the recanvas of nearly 1,800 affidavit ballots in Oneida County. The final counting of those ballots should be complete as I write this but the unofficial tally hasn’t been released yet. Both camps are getting daily updates on the totals and the 30 vote lead for Tenney was the result after Monday’s counting (since the article about it was published Tuesday morning).

However nothing is official until Judge DelConte returns to work next Monday and rules on which ballots will be accepted and which will not.

The process to review ballots in Oneida and Broome counties will mirror the process in the other six counties contained in-part or entirely within the congressional district.

Ballots will be presented to DelConte, with the reason they’re contested and if the ballot was counted in the preliminary tally. Attorneys for both campaigns will argue their sides, while DelConte asks questions and seeks consistency in the arguments.

Some of the objections or challenges will be withdrawn by the campaigns. DelConte has not made any judgment on contested ballots, which he will do in writing at the conclusion of the review.

Even if Tenney holds on to her lead after today, that could still change when the lawyers get going next week. Last week it was clear that the attorney for Democrat Anthony Brindisi was getting on Judge DelConte’s nerves. Hopefully the judge will return from his break determined not to let Brindisi’s camp get away with anything.

Bottom line: It ain’t over yet but there’s still a good chance Claudia Tenney is going to pull this out and be another pickup for the GOP. We’ll know more next Monday.