Onondaga County election officials began recounting ballots by hand.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – A recount to decide the race for New York’s 50th state senate race is underway.
Incumbent state Sen. John Mannion holds a 55 vote lead over Republican challenger Rebecca Shiroff, according to the Onondaga County Board of Elections.
The slim margin in results has automatically enforced a recount. New York law mandates that a hand recount occurs in any race decided by less than 0.5 percent of the vote.
Onondaga County election officials began the recount this morning at the Onondaga County Board of Elections office in Syracuse.
Dustin Czarny, an Onondaga County Board of Elections Commissioner, said over the next few weeks, election officials will hand count 90,000 ballots using only ten tables.
“This is just the beginning of a very long marathon here,” Czarny said. “It’s a long tedious extra-inning but we’re going to show why the hand count is necessary.”
The recount will show the importance of bipartisanship within a democracy, Czarny added.
“I think in a race this close its deserving to know who actually won the race and remove any doubt from who the voters chose,” said Czarny. “Everything is bipartisan, teams are working together.”
After the recount concludes the decision may still be undecided. Both parties will be able to bring any objections with the ballots to court and make their case in front of the judge.