The fate of several Hudson Valley races depends on mail-in ballots that still need to be counted.

Tens of thousands of paper ballots still need to be counted, and many more may be coming in within the next week.

Processing and counting the ballots in Westchester, Putnam and Dutchess counties won't begin until next week. In Rockland County, they start counting tomorrow.

The outcome of a number of close local races will depend upon those paper ballots, including the 38th and 40th District state Senate seats.

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Westchester County Board of Elections commissioners say they've already received two court challenges for those races.

Officials at the Westchester Board of Elections say the entire process of collecting, storing and counting absentee ballots will be a partisan effort. "New York State's Board of Election and all elections in the 62 counties is that it has to be done by both commissioners - Republican and Democrat - or at least their staff," says Democratic Committee Chairman Reginald Lafayette.

The commissioners say at this point they can't estimate when they will be able to call those close races. They say it will depend upon the mail-in ballots and how long the whole process will take. They say at the very earliest it will be some point next week.