Despite Republican Jim Tedisco’s hopes that counting of so-called “paper ballots” -- absentee ballots, military ballots, and provisional ballots -- would catapult him ahead of Democratic rival Scott Murphy in the District 20 congressional race, Tedisco continues to slip further behind.
Only two of 10 counties in the district, Otsego and Delaware, have completed their count of paper ballots. The latest tally shows Murphy pulling ahead by 168 votes, the largest margin either candidate has enjoyed since Election Day.
The most recent total shows Murphy with 78,329 votes to Tedisco’s 78,161. Those results are as of noon Wednesday.
The saving grace for Tedisco may be Saratoga County, which he carried handily in the regular balloting on March 31. Saratoga has over 1,800 absentee ballots it is expected to report to the State Board of Elections any day now, and observers assume those votes will fall strongly for Tedisco.
Both candidates have expressed confidence about their ability to carry the all-important absentee ballots, which will probably determine the outcome of the election. A big Murphy lead going into the counting of the Saratoga ballots could effectively neutralize Tedisco’s expected gains from that county.
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