As reported earlier, Republican Jim Tedisco took the extraordinary measure of filing a motion with the Dutchess County Clerk that was designed to contest and stall certification of the results, should voters today chose Democrat Scott Murphy.

While campaign lawyers often pre-file papers for simple vote protection, Tedisco’s motion goes much, much further. Inside this document (PDF) are several humdingers, including:

On page 6: An order that whenever a poll-watcher challenges a voter that the elections clerks have to make a written record. (Unless or until that order is served at every polling place—and unless or until somebody notices that paragraph—it will be impossible to enforce.)

On Page 9: Plaintiffs seek a restraining order to prevent the certification of Murphy no matter how huge a win. (This paragraph was struck out by the court on the spot.)

Also, it has come to our attention that much of this petition has been copied and pasted directly from a complaint filed last year in New York City in the case of another contested election. The document cites Brooklyn cases—apparently, the Tedisco team was too lazy, too panicked, or too busy tweeting to look up relevant upstate case law.

(We are working on providing all of you with a full PDF for your own perusal, and will post a link when it is ready. PDF now available at the link above.)

As we mentioned, this is going to be a close race, and there is still time to help (polls are open until 9pm Eastern): Phone bank for Scott Murphy.

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  4. Franken-Coleman Update: The Glorious First of June
  5. Update on the Albany Senate Putsch