Rangel's Lead Widens Over Espaillat In Primary Ballot Count

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Rep. Charles Rangel's lead over his Democratic primary challenger has continued to widen.

The New York City Board of Elections concluded its two-day count of absentee and affidavit ballots with Rangel 989 votes ahead of state Sen. Adriano Espaillat. But when officials reversed their decisions on some additional votes that had been declared invalid, the gap widened further to 994.

That lead is up from 945 at the start of the day Friday and up from 802 when the count started Thursday.

Saturday, elections board employees and campaign representatives are expected to continue sorting through more than 2,000 ballots the board deemed invalid. Both the Rangel and Espaillat camps can challenge the board's determination on any of those ballots.

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