Alaska To Count Most Outstanding Ballots Today

There are three U.S. Senate races still to be decided, including one in Minnesota which is heading to a mandatory recount and one in Georgia heading to a runoff election. The final race, the one between Alaska Senator Ted Stevens and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich could go a long way to being decided today as officials expect to finish counting some 90,000 remaining early, absentee or questioned ballots.

The state's election official, Gail Fenumiai, says that because of the size of the state and the remote areas involved, it's not unusual for the count to last a week after the election. But officials say they are being more cautious in checking votes as they discovered over two dozen cases in the August primary where voters cast two ballots – one absentee and another at the polls. Stevens, who was found guilty of lying to prosecutors just a week before the election, currently leads Begich by 3,257 votes.