By MARINA VILLENEUVE Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A rematch between a former Republican congressional member and the Democrat who ousted her from office two years ago has come down to a just a few dozen votes, with a judge likely to play a role in the final outcome.

Republican Claudia Tenney is vying to reclaim her seat in Congress from U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi, the Democrat, in a district that stretches from Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania border, east of Syracuse. 

She had a lead of more than 28,000 votes on Nov. 3, but absentee ballots have highly favored Brindisi.

County election boards have withheld information about the current count from the public, but Tenney's campaign put the current gap at around 100 votes, while Brindisi's campaign says it could be less than 100.

That could make the outcome dependent on a judge's examination of rejected and challenged ballots, which is set to begin Monday and continue Tuesday. Justice Scott J. DelConte, in a court hearing Friday, ordered the eight counties in the district to bring those ballots to the Oswego County Courthouse next week.