As election workers finished counting absentee and questioned ballots over the weekend, U.S. Rep. Don Young widened his slim lead over Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell to 239 votes -- up from 151 votes after the Aug. 26 primary election.

State Division of Elections director Gail Fenumiai said Monday her office could receive at most 237 overseas absentee ballots, the last of the race to be counted. She knows because overseas absentee voters were previously sent special advance ballots, on which voters recorded their preferences and were returned early. The absentee voters were then sent an official ballot.

"If that official ballot does not come back and their special advance ballot is in our office, we then review and count those special advance ballots," she said. "That's it. ... 237 is the maximum number of absentee overseas ballots that we're going to see."

Mike Anderson, spokesman for Young's campaign, said those numbers appeared to make a Parnell upset "improbable," but he was hesitant to read any conclusions into them.

"Mr. Young believes it is appropriate to respect the (lieutenant governor) in his course of action," Anderson said in an e-mail reply. "If the positions were switched, Mr. Young would have asked Mr. Parnell for the same latitude."

Since both candidates have said they will request a recount if they lose, definitive results for the primary could still be weeks away.

In a press release issued Monday, Parnell, claiming strong support from the military, said the overseas vote could still tip things in his favor.

"Sean Parnell swept the vote at Alaska's military bases and posts on primary day, in the case of one military post by a four to one margin," said Cathy Giessel, Parnell's field coordinator. "It is certainly possible that the overseas ballots will reflect strong support."

The overseas ballots, due in Wednesday, will be counted by early next week at the latest, Fenumiai said. Meanwhile, election officials were in the process Monday of spot-checking and verifying results as they worked to certify the election. That process had not hit any snags and was on track to meet the target date for certification, Sept. 18, she said.

From the date of certification, the losing candidate or 10 qualified voters will have five days to request a recount. Depending on how quickly a request arrives, the recounted results should be available by the end of the month, Fenumiai said.

The cost of a recount will be covered by the state only if the difference in votes is 20 or less or less than 0.5 percent of the total vote. The latest figures available from the Division of Elections have Young leading Parnell 48,006 to 47,767 -- about 0.25 percent.

The winner will take on Democratic challenger Ethan Berkowitz in the November general election.

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