The tally of absentee ballots conducted after Election Day has tentatively reversed the outcome of last month’s Democratic primary for district attorney of Queens ― a race that has generated national excitement. Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, 53 ― who trailed public defender Tiffany Cabán, 31, by over 1,000 votes when regular ballots were counted on Election Day ― now holds a 20-vote lead over Cabán. The New York City Board of Elections will now conduct a full recount, which it has a policy of initiating when the victory margin is under 0.5 percentage points. The new margin dismayed supporters of Cabán and increases the likelihood that the election will end in acrimony. In addition to counting absentee ballots in the days since the June 25 election, the Board of Elections examined over 2,800 affidavit ballots ― provisional forms completed by voters not on the registration rolls when they show up at the polls. The board invalidated over 2,000 of those ballots over the course of that process. Cabán and her supporters say many of those affidavit ballots were improperly disqualified. The Cabán campaign’s attorney, Jerry Goldfeder, plans to challenge the disqualification of all but a few hundred of the invalidated affidavit ballots. “We are still fighting to make sure every valid ballot is counted,” Cabán said Thursday in a statement. “We are confident that if that happens, we will be victorious.”

Mary Altaffer/ASSOCIATED PRESS Nearly two weeks after the New York City election, the results of the primary for Queens County district attorney between Tiffany Cabán, right, and Melinda Katz remain too close to call.