The following are statements from both campaigns:

Statement from Councilman Lew Fidler:

“We respect, but respectfully disagree with, the Court’s decision. Over 100 otherwise healthy people spontaneously declared themselves to be disabled in the presence of no one other than David Storobin’s staffer. This is a proven fact. The Storobin campaign knows exactly what it did here and purposefully set out to do it.

“This election – and this count – are far from over. While we await the actual opening of these ballots, a hand recount of more than 22,000 ballots will undoubtedly follow. At the very least, as this will be a first manual recount since the use of the new scanners, we will find out if the new machines are in fact giving us all an accurate count. When all the ballots are double-checked for accuracy, we will know who will be entitled to take the oath of office.

“In the interim, I will continue to work as hard as ever representing the people of my district in the City Council.

“Stay tuned.”

Statement from David Storibin:

Brooklyn, N.Y. — A State Supreme Court Justice today rejected City Councilman Lew Fidler’s bogus fraud claim against the Storobin campaign, clearing the way for the remaining 119 ballots to finally be counted.

Campaign spokesman David Simpson said, “We were right all along. Everything the Storobin campaign did to encourage voter participation in this election, especially our outreach efforts into the Russian community, was done in accordance with the law and 100% above board. Today the court affirmed that. The Fidler campaign has wasted time and taxpayer money trying to steal this election and disenfranchise Russian voters. But all they succeeded in doing was to delay the outcome of the election for another month. Once these ballots are counted, we are confident that David Storobin will regain his lead and will be declared the winner.”

David Storobin thanked his legal team of John Ciampoli, Vinnie Mussina and Gene Beradelli for their excellent work in protecting voters’ rights and ensuring that all remaining votes will be counted.

(YWN Desk – NYC)