The race for Albany County legislator in the 36th District may not be decided for another week or so.
A voting tally discrepancy in the race between incumbent Howard Shafer and challenger Richard Mendick has now put Mendick in the lead with 852 votes to Shafer’s 824.
On election night, the unofficial tally from the board of elections had Shafer with a 71-vote lead.
There was an inputting error, said John A. Graziano, Republican election commissioner.
Graziano went on to say the board of elections has now verified the initial canvas vote. Albany County Board of Elections will recanvas the vote in that race Friday, Nov. 9, at 9 a.m. at the Bethlehem town garage, where the voting machines are currently stored. There are still several hundred absentee ballots throughout the county that need to be counted, with 67 of those ballots in the 36th District that could still affect the outcome.
Shafer, a Democrat, held off Leo Dorsey Jr. in the September primary and squared off in a three-way race on Election Day with Dorsey having the Independence line and Mendick the Republican and Conservative lines.
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