Sean Mulkerrin is reporting for the Altamont Enterprise a judge in Montgomery County has signed off on a process that would allow tens-of-thousands of absentee ballots — votes that will ultimately determine the outcome of the election — to be counted in the state 46th Senate District race, after the top two vote-getters recently filed competing lawsuits over the matter. But even after every vote is counted, it is unlikely the outcome will be all that different from November 3. Justice Rebecca A. Slezak’s November 8 decision ordered the ballot-canvass process to start in Albany County on November18, in Greene County on November 12, in Montgomery County and Schenectady County on November 12, and in Ulster County on Nov. 18. Based on early and Election Day voting, Richard Amedure, a GOP-backed Conservative, is leading in the vote count, having turned back the challenge so far from his Democratic rival, Michelle Hinchey, to keep the 46th state Senate District seat in Republican hands. The incumbent Republican, George Amedore, chose not to seek re-election. A Green Party candidate and a write-in candidate received fewer than one percent of the vote. Hinchey of Ulster County, formerly worked for a decade in media relations, and had nearly five times the funding of Amedure, a retired State Trooper who lives in Rensselaerville. Enrollment in the district favors Democrats. There are are still as many as 26,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted. Neither the Hinchey nor Amedure campaigns responded to the Enterprise's requests for comment. Read the full story in the Altamont Enterprise