12-08-09 - 11:30 a.m. - At the end of a long day of skirmishing over subpoenas and the relevance of the extensive information they seek and wrangling over absentee ballots challenged for reasons other than residency, Kathleen O’Keefe, lead attorney for the Democrats, got some good news. The New York State Appellate Division has agreed to hear the case of the challenged ballots from the Town of Taghkanic.

At the beginning of the day in Judge Jonathan Nichols’ makeshift courtroom at the Hudson Elks Club, O’Keefe announced that on Friday she had filed an appeal of Judge Nichols’ decision to deny the motion to dismiss to the Appellate Division and was awaiting their decision. Late on Monday, after court had already adjourned for the day, O’Keefe announced that her appeal had been accepted and a panel of Appellate Court judges will hear the case beginning at 1 p.m., Wednesday, December 16, in Albany.