Carole Osterink

ccSCOOP Editor

11-20-09 - 9:30 p.m. - The counting—and challenging—of absentee ballots in Columbia County ended this afternoon with the paper ballots from Claverack. The results from the lever machine on election day put Democratic challenger Robin Andrews ahead of longtime Republican incumbent Jim Keegan by 21 votes.

There were 160 absentee ballots in Claverack, and 117 of them were counted today. Andrews gained an additional 60 votes and Keegan picked up another 57. With potentially 43 votes yet to be counted, Andrews now leads by 24 votes—932 votes to Keegan's 908.