Absentee Ballots May Decide 7th District Assembly Race

It looks like absentee ballots could determine the race for two Assembly seats representing New Jersey's 7th District.

The district is one of few in the state that is usually represented by both parties.

But Democratic incumbent Herb Conaway and running mate Troy Singleton were ahead of Republican challengers Christopher Halgas and Jim Keenan by margins of less than 2 percentage points Tuesday with all precincts reporting -- but no absentee ballots counted.

The district's Republican state senator, Diane Allen, was re-elected to a fifth term in the State Senate.

For most of the time since she was elected to the Senate in 1997, the Democrats have held the district's two Assembly seats.

Redistricting this year took away some heavily Democratic communities and added some Republican strongholds.