Many counties in New York will start counting absentee ballots this week, more than a week after Election Day. The results could be decisive in some local and congressional races.
Officials have said long before Election Day that it would take weeks for them to count a record number of absentee ballots this year.
There are nearly 1.5 million absentee ballots in New York. Almost 900,000 of those are from registered Democrats.
Candidates that led by small margins on Election Day can still lose after nearly 300,000 Long Island ballots are counted.
Nassau County is expected to start counting by Friday. Suffolk County will likely start counting as late as Monday, when military ballots postmarked November 3 are due. They will exclude ballots that are postmarked late, and those of voters who also went to the polls on Election Day.
Local races will be reported to the State Board of Elections by November 28. Then, the state has to send certified results to the Electoral College by December 8.