More than 85,000 ballots remain to be reviewed and added to the count of votes in Pima County, officials said Wednesday afternoon. They include 59,000 early ballots, and more than 18,000 provisional ballots that must be verified.

Statewide, there are about 600,000 ballots left to be counted, the majority in Maricopa County. Those ballots could be the deciding factor in a number of races, most notably the U.S. Senate race between U.S. Reps. Martha McSally and Kyrsten Sinema. The pair were just 16,000 votes apart Wednesday. Most of the uncounted ballots are in Maricopa County — where Sinema held a narrow 479,000 to 471,000 lead — and Pima County, where the Democrat led 167,000 to 129,000.

With the staff of the Pima County Recorder's Office determining which of the ballots are valid and can be counted, the Elections Department — a separate county agency — will resume counting ballots on Thursday, officials said.

The estimated number of remaining ballots includes:

59,459 early ballots, including those dropped off on Election Day. Signatures on the ballot envelopes must be verified.

18,164 provisional ballots, which must be validated before being counted. In past elections 80-90 percent of provisional ballots are eventually added to the final count.

209 conditional ballots.

7,239 duplicated ballots — those that were defective and could not be processed through tabulating machines. Such ballots are often torn, wrinkled or stained, and are reproduced by election officials so they can be counted.

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