Air America host challenged in NY-20

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Political talker Sam Seder is a long-time resident of New York’s 20th Congressional District and makes his home there, but his job has him commuting to and overnighting in New York City. Now his absentee ballot in the district’s House run-off race has been challenged.


The special election pitted Republican Jim Tedisco against Democrat Scott Murphy in a battle to assume the seat of Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who was appointed to take over the abandoned Senate seat of Hillary Clinton (D-NY). The election was a dead heat, with the lead shifting as vote counting has gone on.

But the trend during the counting of absentee ballots has favored Murphy, who at last look had a 400-vote lead, according to Talkingpointsmemo.com (TPM).

But with the razor thin margin, Tedisco has been challenging some votes, and Seder was one.

It has become a moot point, as Tedisco finally conceded the election late last week, but remains a cautionary tale for people of any line of business who’s work has them out on the road on a regular basis.

For his part, Seder found it ironic that his vote was considered suspect by Tedisco, even while Tedisco is not a resident of the district. Seder says he’s a regular attendee at town meetings, and prior to leaving town to do his job in NYC had actually pulled jury duty 3/26/09 and 3/27/09. It is believed that the fact that he honored his call for jury duty, strictly a local responsibility, will be more than enough to earn his ballot validation.

RBR/TVBR observation: Many in the broadcasting business go through nomadic periods or spread themselves between two or more markets. If you are such a person, it may be a good idea to alert the folks running elections in your home district in advance to try to nip any such challenges in the bud.