AK Sen. - Begich leads Stevens by 3 votes

Good news out of Alaska. With its latest tally of votes, the state Division of Elections is reporting that Democrat Mark Begich is now leading convicted felon Ted Stevens by 3 votes.

The elections division still has over 10,000 ballots left to count today and thousands more through next week, but the latest numbers show Mark Begich leading Sen. Ted Stevens 125,019 to 125,016.

The new numbers, reflecting nearly 43,000 absentee ballots counted today, are from all over the state. Election night, Ted Stevens led the Democratic Begich by about 3,000 votes.

While these numbers still don't come close to the pre-election polling (showing why we don't take much stock of polls), things are looking good for Begich to take the Senate seat. As Markos noted earlier today, the remaining areas to be counted are pro-Begich.

As for a recount, here is what state law holds:

If the candidates end up within either 20 votes or half a percentage point of each other, either candidate or a group of 10 registered voters can request a recount without paying the $15,000 fee, Fenumiai said.

An automatic recount only occurs in an exact tie.

With additional votes left to count, hopefully Begich will clearly eclipse those thresholds, with the only remaining question regarding Ted Stevens being the identity of his cellmate.