Begich lead grows to 2,374

ADN:

Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich's lead over Sen. Ted Stevens is growing in today's ballot count in the race for U.S. Senate. The latest numbers, issued just before 1 p.m., show Begich up by 2,374 votes.

The Division of Elections expects to release more numbers between 4 and 5 p.m.

Today's count of about 24,000 absentee and questioned ballots should pretty much decide the race, although there will be a few more overseas absentees to count over the next couple days and a likely recount in early December.

Since the state moved to mostly machine counting, recent Alaska recounts have resulted in little change in the final tally.