Officials Begin Counting Absentee Ballots in Cohen-Oppenheimer Race

Westchester's Board of Elections began counting absentee ballots today after a judge gave the go-ahead for counts in two contested local races.

Officials began counting absentee ballots in the still-contested 89th Assembly and 37th State Senate district races, according to a Board of Elections spokesperson.

Justice Les Adler made the decision during a hearing Tuesday morning. If all ballots are not completed, the process will continue on Wednesday.

Ballots cast from Mamaroneck, Harrison and Rye Town will be counted first, followed by other districts, according to the Board of Elections.

Undecided races include the  between incumbent Republican Robert Castelli and Democrat Thomas Roach, as well as the between long-time incumbent Suzi Oppenheimer and Bob Cohen.

Electronic counting of ballots from "Plan B" machines—machines that are accessible for the handicapped—.

According to the Board of Elections, unoffical results from the handicapped ballots show that, out of 951 Plan B ballots cast, Robert Castelli received 495 votes to 456 for Thomas Roach, which brings Castelli's overall lead to 111 votes out of some 38,774 votes cast.

Austin Shafran, a spokesman for the State Senate Democrats, said last week that Oppenheimer's lead now stands at 626 votes over Cohen after a counting was done of Ballot Marking Devices. She gained 112 votes from the Nov. 18 counting, he said.

We will have results from Tuesday's count as they become available.

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