Lots going on today in the 13th Congressional District primary that is now heading into its ninth day without a clear result.

Here’s where we are now: After completing its vote count of all the precincts (several precincts, mostly in the Bronx and upper Manhattan, were initially recorded as casting zero votes), the Board of Elections says  State Senator Adriano Espaillat trails incumbent Congressman Charlie Rangel by 802 votes (or about 2%). There are still about 2,000 absentee and affidavit ballots that need to be counted. The tallying for those votes began this morning in downtown Manhattan with observers from both camps looking on.

(On election night, you may remember, a Rangel victory appeared imminent and the margin appeared much larger. He gave a victory speech and Espaillat conceded. But things changed quickly when the margin began dwindling and Espaillat started hearing reports of voter suppression.)

It appears unlikely Espaillat will make up enough ground through today’s vote count to overtake Rangel. But Espaillat and his supporters say they are not satisfied with the BOE’s handling of the entire process. They say they received reports of voters being turned away or forced to vote through affidavit ballots. They also allege that bilingual workers were reassigned at the last minute, leaving polling sites in the Bronx and upper Manhattan without help for Spanish speakers.

On Saturday, Espaillat’s team announced that it had hired Martin Connor, a former state senator, to represent him in the election fight. Earlier this week, Connor filed a petition in Bronx County Court on behalf of Espaillat, asking a judge to suspend the vote count today while an outside monitor steps in to secure the ballots in case of a recount. It also included language that left the door open for a completely new election. The judge didn’t sign the order, but Connor and Espaillat are in the Bronx this morning for a hearing on the petition.

Yesterday, Rangel held a press conference to defend the BOE and to criticize Espaillat for throwing out voter suppression accusations without showing much evidence to back up his claims.

The 13th Congressional District now includes several neighborhoods in the northwest Bronx after redistricting earlier this year.

The Norwood News will be at the vote count downtown and in Bronx court this morning, so stay tuned. We should know more soon.