Rangel wins still-uncertified Democratic primary

After nearly two weeks, Rep. Charles Rangel has won the Congressional District 13 Democratic primary and will likely represent Kingsbridge, Kingsbridge Heights, Norwood, Van Cortlandt Village, Bedford Park, University Heights and much of Upper Manhattan in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rangel's 802-vote lead over state Sen. Adriano Espaillat increased to 987 after the Board of Elections finished counting absentee and affidavit ballots, according to a final tally released by the Board of Elections on Saturday.

Mr. Rangel has 18,942 votes over Mr. Espaillat's 17,955, according to the BOE. There will not be an automatic recount of the votes since the margin of victory is not less than .5 percent, or 214 votes.

Clyde Williams came in third with 4,227 votes, followed by Joyce Johnson with 1,010 and Craig Schley with 592.

The Board of Elections plans to certify the election on Tuesday.

After Mr. Rangel declared victory on the night of the June 26 primary, things looked up for Mr. Espaillat, who learned that preliminary tallies included zeroes from a number of election districts where votes had been cast. When those votes were added to the original count and released to the media on Saturday, Mr. Rangel’s lead shrunk to 802 votes.

Supporters of Mr. Espaillat hung their hopes on the counting of approximately 2,500 absentee and affidavit ballots, which began after the Fourth of July holiday.

The BOE counted Bronx absentee and affidavit ballots on July 5 — with Mr. Espaillat adding 128 votes compared to Mr. Rangel’s 99 — and moved on to Manhattan ballots today. Mr. Rangel added 753 votes in Manhattan, compared to Mr. Espaillat’s 564.

As the tabulating began, Judge John W. Carter signed an order in Bronx Civil Court to compel the Board of Elections to keep copies of any absentee, military, special, federal or affidavit ballots that were invalidated and contested and then overridden by the Board of Elections or for which there was a split decision. Candidates can now protest those decisions if there are enough contested ballots to change the outcome of the election.