Providence Journal / Frieda Squires
Jean Link and Pam Calise, employees at the Board of Elections, are still counting mail ballots Thursday, which will determine the outcome of some races.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The ongoing count of mail ballots by the state Board of Elections is expected to wrap up this afternoon.
Robert Kando, the board's executive director, said the counting might finish somewhere between 2 and 4 p.m.
Voters submitted some 25,602 mail ballots for Tuesday's election, but under state law the counting cannot begin until Election Day.
The mail ballot totals will determine the outcome of some races, including at least three in the General Assembly, where Democrats have added to their already large majority.
In District 30, held by former Minority Leader Rep. Robert W. Watson, R-East Greenwich, who did not seek reelection, Republican Antonio Giarrusso led Democrat Mark Schwager by 36 votes, with 759 mail ballots uncounted.
And in District 72, Democratic challenger Linda Dell Finn led incumbent Daniel Patrick Reilly, R-Portsmouth, by 87 votes, with 820 mail ballots uncounted.
In Senate District 21, Sen. Nicholas D. Kettle, R-Coventry, led Democratic challenger Scott M. Pollard by 163 votes, but 815 mail ballots haven't been counted.
In Warwick, the mail ballot count will determine whether incumbent Republican Ward 1 Councilman Steven Colantuono will fend off a challenge from Democrat Sharon Ahearn.
By the end of election night the two were only 29 votes apart.
(Correction: An earlier version of this report had the wrong total number of mail ballots)