ALBANY—Assemblyman Jim Tedisco gained 163 votes from Saratoga County, with all election districts reporting, elections officials there said, but he still is running 86 votes behind Democrat Scott Murphy in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand.
The State Board of Elections overall tally, as of 4 p.m., is 79,105 for Murphy, 79,019 for Tedisco.
There are still over 1,200 ballots set aside, but most will now be opened after a ruling from James Brands which upheld the Democratic position.
Tedisco had been banking on the absentee ballots in Saratoga County to put him into the lead over Murphy. Murphy's lead among absentee ballots in Columbia County increased again today, and he gained in Washington County.
The bulk of the paper ballots have now been counted.
This lead is of course subject to change, but is psychologically important. As the canvass moves to challenged ballots, it looks as though Murphy is going in with a slight lead. More ballots were set aside because of objections from the Tedisco campaign than the Murphy campaign.
Bad news for Tedisco.
