A legal battle ahead for Brooklyn Senate seat?

City officials are reviewing voting machine data this morning as both candidates in the 27th District State Senate seat race — Democrat Lewis Fidler and Republican David Storobin — have declared victory.

Unofficial results suggest Storobin holds a 120-vote lead over the Fidler in the battle to fill Carl Kruger’s seat in South Brooklyn, but at least 757 paper ballots have yet to be been counted. An audit and review by the Board of Elections could take up to 10 days.

Even then, the fight in this notably nasty contest might not be over. We want to know: Have any recent New York City races ended up in a Bush v. Gorestyle court battle to decide who takes the crown?

If you have information or insight to share, write us, tweet @thenyworld or comment below.

What we found
The endgame in the most recent statewide election for State Senate, in 2010, shows just how tough the fight for these seats can get. With Republicans controlling the Senate by a slim 32 seats to the Democrats’ 30, every win counts big for both sides.

In 2010, Democrat Suzi Oppenheimer defeated Bob Cohen in Westchester’s 37th District by just 730 votes, while in Buffalo’s 60th District a state judge ordered a recount, in which Republican Marc Grisanti dislodged Antoine Thompson by 519 votes.

The most high-profile legal challenge was the race for Long Island seat between Republican Jack Martins and Democrat Craig Johnson.
Martins defeated Johnson by 451 votes, but Johnson challenged the result and ordered a recount. Johnson still wouldn’t concede defeat, but the state’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, backed his opponent’s victory and dismissed his case.

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