It seems that the Associated Press is selective in correcting errors it occasionally makes in calling election results.
In the case of the GA-02 Congressional race between incumbent Democrat Sanford Bishop and Republican challenger Mike Keown, the wire service declared Keown the winner at 10:55 p.m. on Election Night, only to reverse its call and declare Bishop the victor three hours later after results from three key counties in the district came in.
In NY-01, the AP, according to multiple source, including this one, has declared incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop the winner over Republican Randy Altschuler. But despite developments since then which have cast doubt on who the winner is, with the evidence now seemingly pointing towards an Altschuler squeaker, AP has not pulled its call. In its compilation of 11 undecided races last night, including nine Congressional contests, NY-01 is not among them.
Here is recent news from the race, via the Politico (HT Left Coast Rebel):
Altschuler camp says it's now up in NY-1 count
... two sources who are familiar with the recanvassing of the voting machines in NY-1 tell me that GOPer Randy Altschuler, who'd been down several thousand votes to Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop is now up between 300 and 400 with the recanvass completed.
There's over 9,000 absentee ballots to be counted starting next week, but the Republican had been down by 3,400.
UPDATE: Altschuler spokesman Rob Ryan says the number is 392 and that it was the number their campaign lawyer received from the Board of Elections.
... UPDATE x 2: Reid Epstein reached former Bishop aide and Brookhaven Democratic committee member Jon Schneider, who's still close to the congressman, who confirmed the incumbent is now down 392 votes.
This is a pretty dramatic turn of events in a race in which even many Republicans privately thought Altschuler should have conceded earlier this week.
... UPDATE x 3: Schneider replied just now, "This abrupt shift raises considerable questions about the new voting system in Suffolk County. At the end of the day, it is vital that Suffolk County residents have confidence in the final results, which is why there needs to be a hand count of all paper ballots.
It may be a "dramatic turn," but AP apparently isn't interested in hanging around for the drama.
The New York Times also carried news of Bishop's supposed win. A search at the Times's web site this morning shows nothing on developments since. What a surprise (not).
