What Does Counting 90,000 Paper Ballots Sound Like? Inside the Queens DA Recount

A recount is underway in Queens for the district attorney primary race between Democratic establishment candidate Melinda Katz and progressive challenger Tiffany Cabán. It's a tight race being watched across the city, with Katz pulling ahead by just 16 votes in a preliminary tally. 

Now a small army of Board of Elections workers is sifting through more than 90,000 paper ballots one by one, under the watchful gaze of volunteers from both campaigns, who are hoping to ensure the integrity of the recount. By late Thursday afternoon, four days in, they'd completed tallies of four of Queens' 18 electoral districts.

Ken Rehberger, the president of a local Democratic club who is volunteering for Katz' campaign called the process "slow and tedious," but said watching it unfold has given him more more ammunition to persuade people to vote.

"People don't believe they literally count every single vote," he said. "Your vote counts and this shows your vote counts."

A New York City Board of Elections spokeswoman said the recount could last until the end of the month.