Although unofficial results on Wednesday morning showed Mr. Bishop, a Democrat from Southampton, ahead by about 3,500 votes, with some 9,500 absentee ballots still to be counted, revised results now show that Mr. Altschuler, a Republican from St. James, is ahead by about 400 votes based solely on Election Night balloting, according to Rob Ryan, Mr. Altschuler’s spokesman. Two other officials with knowledge of the situation confirmed the information on background.
The numbers were updated after the Suffolk County Board of Elections apparently finished downloading the electronic results directly from the new electronic voting machines, according to Mr. Ryan. He said he heard the new numbers at about 5:30 p.m. Friday from an attorney hired by the campaign who has been in touch with the Board of Elections.
“We’re up by 392 votes,” Mr. Ryan said late Friday night. “The BOE, when they bring in the machines, I guess they hook them up and electronically download the information.”
Absentee ballots have until Monday to arrive with the Suffolk County Board of Elections. As of Friday, the breakdown of ballots yet to be counted is as follows, according to Newsday:
■Democrat - 3,611
■Repiblican - 3,953
■Independence - 303
■Conservative - 243
■Working Families - 12
■Blank - 1,779
