Disputed Ballots Must Be Counted in N.Y. Congressional Race, U.S. Judge Rules

A federal judge in Manhattan ruled late Monday that more than a thousand disputed ballots in a closely watched congressional primary should be counted, upending a six-week-old race that has drawn the attention of President Trump and embarrassed the New York City Board of Elections.

The ruling, by Judge Analisa Torres of Federal District Court in Manhattan, may not affect the outcome in the June 23 primary: Representative Carolyn B. Maloney is leading her Democratic challenger, Suraj Patel, by some 3,700 votes, and the judge’s decision was narrowly drawn to force the counting of only a portion of the 12,500 disputed absentee ballots.

Still, the judge’s decision is just the latest twist in a race that has been used by the president to cast doubts on the efficacy of vote-by-mail systems nationwide, even as he trails in polls leading up to his bid for re-election in November.

On Monday, Mr. Trump said that Ms. Maloney’s race was “a mess” and “a total disaster,” and suggested that it should be “rerun.”

“They’re six weeks into it now,” Mr. Trump said. “They have no clue what’s going on.”

Under Judge Torres’s decision, ballots received the day after Election Day — June 24 — will be counted “without regard to whether such ballots are postmarked by June 23.” Mr. Patel estimates that this is about 1,200 ballots, not enough to overtake Ms. Maloney.

In sworn testimony last week, postal officials conceded that their system of identifying and postmarking ballots — a critical element in determining whether ballots were sent by the Election Day deadline — was not foolproof, and that some ballots had not been postmarked.

Late Monday, Mr. Patel lauded the decision, casting it as a warning about possible complications in November. “This is no longer a Democratic or a Republican fight, this is not an establishment versus progressive fight,” he said. “This is now a fight for the voting rights of millions in a pandemic.”