Appellate Court to Hear 7th Senate Case Wednesday

The latest round in the long, drawn-out  is set to go in front of an Appellate Division court in Brooklyn Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. It has been over 40 days since Election night, 40 days since Mineola, R, I, C,  over incumbent State , D - Port Washington, 33 days since before Justice Ira Warshawsky in State Supreme Court and 11 days since .

Johnson campaign attorney Steven Schlesinger filed paperwork this past Thursday with the Appellate Division asking that the higher court overturn Warshawsky's decision and call for a full hand recount of the 80,000-plus ballots which were cast in the election. Warshawsky had ruled that there was an "insufficient basis" for a hand recount based on the margin of error and their explanations for ballot discrepancies provided by Republicans, who cited four in each instance. "I believe that we're 100 percent entitled to a hand recount," Schlesinger said outside of court following the Dec. 4 ruling.

Coming out of the courtroom Dec. 4, Republican Board of Elections chair John Ryan said that it would be "tough" based upon Warshawsky's ruling when asked about the chances of a successful appeal.

In the , Martins had a lead of 451 votes, with 42,942 ballots cast in his favor compared with 42,491 for Johnson. The Appellate Court could either choose to hear the case or instead rely upon the lower court's ruling. The outcome of the race has apparently placed the Republicans with a 32-30 majority in the State Senate when the Legislature is due back in session on Jan. 5.

The chief administrative judge for the state has issued a series of deadlines to speed the court procedures along before the Legislature reconvenes. According to the directives the Appellate Courts should hear the case by Dec. 20, but no timeline in which to rule was given.