UPDATE: Absentee Ballot Count Begins in Bishop/Altschuler Race

Election workers started a count of absentee and affidavit ballots in the First Congressional Race on Tuesday, resuming the process to determine the winner of the race between incumbent Rep. Tim Bishop, D - Southampton, and Republican challenger Randy Altschuler.

The process left off last Tuesday, Nov. 9, when lawyers representing Bishop and Altschuler  of over 181,000 votes cast in the Nov. 2 general election. Altschuler's side, as permitted by state law, chose to let the process - which includes auditing voting machines for mistakes before a hand recount - run its course.

Bishop's call for a recount came after unofficial numbers on election night showed him with a lead of over 3,600 votes. After a recanvass of the electronic voting machines - being used for the first time in a general election in Suffolk County - Altschuler was shown to be in the lead by 383 votes. Last week, Bishop's attorney Thomas Garry stated the 4,000-plus swing in votes showed the need to count the paper ballots. While Garry stated last Tuesday that a petition for hand recount would be coming "within days," no request has been made as of yet.

As of Tuesday afternoon, officials at the Board of Elections had reported no errors in its voting machine audit, after checking 20 machines. Forty-three must be checked error-free in order to complete the audit.

In the meantime, a hand count of over 10,000 absentee ballots and over 1,100 affidavit ballots has begun. Election officials are hopeful a count will be complete buy the end of the week, and said that election districts in Smithtown and Southampton were being counted first.

Affidavit ballots may be cast when a voter's name does not appear in the polling place's book of registered voters, or if the voter does not have proper identification at the polling place, among other instances.

According to Bishop spokesman Jon Schneider, the breakdown for the 10,119 absentee ballots goes as follows, by party:

• Democrat - 3,684
• Republican - 4,039
• Independence - 313
• Conservative - 248
• Working Families - 13
• Blank - 1,822

Schneider said the affidavit ballots breakdown as follows, by party:

• Democrat - 349
• Republican - 361
• Independence - 57
• Conservative - 30
• Working Families - 8
• Other - 14
• Blank - 289

Click here for a recap of prior coverage on the Bishop/Altschuler race.