McDonald fails to gain ground during first day of absentee counting

FORT EDWARD and TROY - They huddled into a small room to pore over the absentee ballots that will decide this race.

Representatives of the Roy McDonald and Kathy Marchione campaigns got an opportunity to examine each of the envelopes and ballots -- rejecting those that weren't properly filled out or dated.

Former U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, who played a key role in the count that decided the 2000 presidential race, is on Marchione's team.

In Washington County, fewer campaign members looked at fewer votes. There were just 22 in total, but in a race this close, every vote gets a close look.

After several minutes of examining envelopes, the campaign representatives agreed that 21 of them should be opened and counted. One was rejected because the voter didn't write the date on the envelope.

Marchione got 11 of the 21 votes, for a net gain of one. Making it more difficult for McDonald to overcome the more than 100-vote deficit.

"Now we're another step further in the process toward certifying Kathleen as the winner of this primary election," said Michael Cuevas, an attorney for the Marchione campaign.

But the McDonald team wasn't conceding. Pointing out that more absentees will be counted Monday than were counted Thursday.

If the totals hold up, McDonald will still campaign on the Independence Party line.

"He made a commitment to the Independence Party, but we think we're going to win this on absentees," said Jim Thompson, representative of McDonald's campaign.

Roughly 650 absentee ballots will be counted Monday morning. About 420 of them will be counted in Saratoga County.