NY begins counting absentee votes almost a week after elections – Telemundo New York (47)

NEW YORK – New York counties began counting more than 1.5 million absentee ballots on Monday, a final push that will determine the outcome of several contests that remain undecided nearly a week after Election Day.

Unlike many states, New York did not allow the absentee ballot counting process to begin before Friday.

Voting by mail has the potential to substantially change some nominations, in the same pattern that happened in some states during the presidential election.

Democrats returned an estimated 930,000 absentee votes, while Republicans returned 260,000, according to data from the state board of elections.

It’s unclear if that lead will be enough to outweigh the substantial leads some Republicans held over Democrats in some of the closely watched state legislative elections.

In New York City, Federal Representative Max Rose, a Democrat, was behind Republican Nicole Malliotakis, a member of the State Assembly, by more than 37,000 votes in her district on Staten Island and part of Brooklyn.

In central New York, United States Rep. Anthony Brindisi was nearly 30,000 votes behind former United States Rep. Claudia Tenney, the Republican he beat to win her seat two years ago.

And on Long Island, Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is in a tight race to defend his seat against first-time Republican nominee George Santos.

Counties have until November 28 to report the results to the state.

Absentee ballots are also expected to play a role in determining the size of the Democrats’ lead in the New York legislature.

Democrats, who control the 40-23 state Senate and Assembly with more than two-thirds control, hoped to invest enough seats to win a supermajority in the state Legislature.

But unofficial in-person results so far have shown that the Republican party still has support in suburban and rural districts.

Republicans hoping to topple several Democratic senators ran ads showing their support for a law that removed cash bail for 90% of arrests. Supporters have praised the law for reducing the number of people incarcerated while awaiting trial because they cannot post bail.

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