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East Hampton Press / News / Government / Government / News / Southampton Press / 1738985

Elections Still In Limbo After COVID Case Halts Suffolk Tally

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Candidates Nancy Goroff and Lee Zeldin with Express News Group Executive Editor Joe Shaw during Monday night's debate.

Candidates Nancy Goroff and Lee Zeldin with Express News Group Executive Editor Joe Shaw during Monday night's debate.

authorMichael Wright on Nov 24, 2020

The counting of ballots in Suffolk County's remaining election results was halted midway through the day on Saturday because a Suffolk County Board of Elections staffer tested positive for COVID-19.

All counting was cancelled on Monday and had still not resumed as of Tuesday morning, leaving the final results of the races for Southampton Town Justice, state Senate and, technically, the 1st Congressional district in limbo into yet another week.

The counting of more than 160,000 absentee ballots received from 1st Congressional District voters had begun on Friday. When counting was halted on Saturday there were still more than 74,000 ballots yet to be opened.

U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin appears to be too far ahead of his challenger, Nancy Goroff for the absentee count to change the result, but the races for state Senate between Anthony Palumbo and Laura Ahearn and the Town Justice race between Karen Sartain and Patrick Gunn both hang in the balance of the ongoing tally.

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