The neck-and-neck race for Riverhead Town supervisor will come down to absentee ballots and could trigger a recount, election officials confirmed Wednesday.

Jerome Halpin, the Democratic nominee , holds a 21-vote lead against incumbent Tim Hubbard , a first-term Republican, according to unofficial returns from the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

Voters in Riverhead were nearly evenly split: Halpin won 3,891 votes, a 50.1% share, while Hubbard had 3,870 votes, or 49.9%, according to unofficial returns Wednesday afternoon.

The race remains too close to call with more than 250 outstanding absentee ballots. If the razor-thin margin holds, state election law calls for a manual recount.

Halpin, 53, a pastor and founder of North Shore Christian Church in Riverhead, said in an interview

See Full Page