An Orange County Supreme Court judge has invalidated seven ballots to reverse the outcome of the 2025 Town of Newburgh Town Council race, handing a narrow victory to Republican Paul Ruggiero over Democrat Mary Lou Carolan — who has been serving in the seat since January and says she intends to stay.

The decision, handed down Thursday, invalidates six ballots cast for Carolan and one cast for Ruggiero, making Ruggiero the winner by three votes. The new tally must still be certified before he can be seated.

The ruling comes in a suit Ruggiero filed seeking to overturn his original loss in the race. Carolan’s attorney, Michael Treybich, had argued that New York Election Law bars a court from invalidating ballots that were already counted. Judge Eisenpress rejected that argument, finding that the statute Treybich cited does not apply in the context of a recount.

The case is not fully resolved. Eisenpress also ordered both parties to appear for further hearings and arguments on April 13.

Carolan, who was sworn in and has been serving on the council since January, said she is not prepared to concede.

Carolan also pushed back on the court’s treatment of the ballots. “I believe in the law, I believe in the Constitution, and I believe in voter rights, and that’s where I have to feel justice will prevail,” she said. “I do not believe that votes should be suppressed.”

Ruggiero struck a more confident tone, saying he was glad the case had concluded and expected to be seated April 13. He said he was not particularly worried about a potential appeal from Carolan’s legal team.

“It’s up to them,” Ruggiero said. “But sometimes appeals take a long time — the term could be close to being over by the time the appeal went through, if they even did succeed.”

It was not immediately clear whether Treybich plans to file an appeal.