The lead continues to seesaw in NY-20, as absentee ballots are counted across the district.
At the moment, Democrat Scott Murphy leads Republican Jim Tedisco by 49 votes. That is liable to change any minute.
Columbia County has provided their latest numbers to TPM, showing Murphy picking up another 15 net votes, on a 99-42 margin, compared to the 55-13 in the state's current tally of absentees from here. In addition, the Albany Times Union reports that Murphy has picked up 26 votes, an 88-62 margin, in Essex County.
So as of right now, Scott Murphy leads by 49 votes -- though there are still plenty of ballots left to count. (Late Update: Murphy's newest lead is 46 votes.)
The Tedisco stronghold of Saratoga County, which has over a quarter of the absentee ballots that have been returned, has not yet reported anything, and neither have the pro-Murphy counties of Warren and Washington, which combined have just slightly less returned absentees than Saratoga, and other counties are in various stages of progress.
One obstacle to an accurate count is that the Tedisco campaign continues to challenge seemingly legal ballots left, right and center:
One other thing that clouds the picture is that the campaigns have had the ability to challenge absentee envelopes before they are opened, setting them aside pending a later ruling by the judge in the contest. The Times Union reports that Essex County has had 31 challenges, compared to 150 votes counted. And it's even more stark in Columbia: 83 challenges in the county's list -- which a Tedisco volunteer attorney said have come more from the Republicans -- compared to 141 votes counted.
As TAP reports, Republicans think Columbia County will "make or break" their efforts here. So it's little surprise that they've gone gung-ho with ballot challenges: they want to keep as many Murphy votes from being counted as possible.
