Paul Kirby reports for the Daily Freeman that election workers in seven counties, including those in Columbia and Greene on Dec. 5 began a one-million-vote recount to determine who will take the third seat in a race for the state Supreme Court’s Third Judicial District. The count is likely to take a week to complete, according to Democratic Ulster County Board of Elections Commissioner Ashley Dittus. With less than 1,000 votes separating the two lowest vote-getters, the boards of elections in the seven counties that make up the state Supreme Court Third Judicial District are involved in a hand count of the more than one million ballots cast in the race. Voters were asked to elect three Supreme Court Third Judicial District justices from a field of four candidates. According to the state Board of Elections website, the two top vote-getters in the race were Democrats Meagan K. Galligan and Sharon A. Graff. Meanwhile, Republican Thomas Marcelle received 164,776 votes, while Democrat Heidi Thais Cochrane got 163,777, a spread of only 999 votes. As a result, a hand count of all ballots was triggered. “We will keep doing it until it’s done,” Dittus said. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.