When polls closed the night of the Albany Democratic primary, Joshua Farrell led Jim Long by a slim margin: 2,921 to 2,825. But more than 500 absentee ballots that came back need to be counted, and that happened Tuesday at the Board of Elections.
It was a slow count that dragged into late evening - by 5 o'clock it was very much apparent the race for Albany City Court Judge was going to be a squeaker. As the count neared the final votes, the higher-numbererd wards were very kind to Jim Long - and in the end, Joshua Farrell's camp withdrew their objections to ballots that otherwise would have remained contested - and Farrell pulled it out by a mere 40 votes.
There's still the general election in November - although there are no Republican or minor party candidates on the ballot - Farrell says he still expects competition:
"I think that Jim has a couple of lin, so there is a general election"
And one Farrell says he'll be out campaigning for.
