Anker inches closer to re-election victory

Suffolk Legis. Sarah Anker (D-Mt. Sinai) inched closer Wednesday to locking up a late re-election victory, maintaining a 15-vote lead in a recount with only 11 Republican challenges yet to be counted.

GOP Elections Commissioner Nicholas LaLota said Republican challenger Steve Tricarico’s chances of coming back in the sixth district are “a statistical long shot.”

But LaLota and Republican Party officials aren’t ready to concede. They have until Tuesday to go to court to try and overturn the results.

The nearly final numbers came after election lawyers for both Republicans and Democrats met Tuesday and reduced the number of challenged absentee ballots from 57 to 15 — 11 of them Republican and four from Democrats.

The Republican and Democratic election commissioners split on the 15 remaining challenged ballots, meaning they remain uncounted. However, the Republicans have to run the table on both GOP and Democratic challenges to even manage a tie, unless they decide to sue on other grounds.

John Jay LaValle, Suffolk Republican chairman, said he has yet to be briefed on the latest results, but said the party may make a final decision about whether to pursue a lawsuit by week’s end.