I was about to post our lead print story, which declared Charlie Rangel victorious in the hotly contested 13th Congressional District race, but that declaration may have been a bit premature. We may be heading to a recount or at least some extended bickering and confusion.

According to the Daily News, Rangel’s closest competitor Adriano Espaillat, who congratulated Rangel on Tuesday night after every major news outlet declared the 82-year-old incumbent victorious, and his supporters, including Washington Heights Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez, are calling for a federal monitor to look into the vote count. At a press conference, Rodriguez said someone needed to look into how the Board of Election handled of the tallying of votes. He stopped short of making any specific accusation, but said some irregularities raised red flags.

By yesterday afternoon, after a final yet unofficial vote, Rangel’s lead had dwindled to 2.8 percent.  That was without counting absentee ballots, which could mean as many as 3,000 uncounted votes. As of this posting, we still don’t know the absentee count. Rodriguez, via the Daily News: “I believe we have to call for a federal monitor of the Board of Elections. It’s unacceptable that 48 hours after this election has taken place, we don’t have an outcome.”

Here’s more from the Riverdale Press.