Two term Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich widened his lead Tuesday over Republican incumbent Ted Stevens in Alaska’s senate race as election officials counted the remaining 24,000 absentee and questioned ballots from the Nov. 4 election.

By Tuesday afternoon, Begich’s lead against Stevens grew to 2,374 votes from Friday’s tally that showed Begich with a 1,022 vote lead, Alaska election officials said.

The Alaska Division of Elections said 16,000 absentee and questioned ballots (also known as provisional ballots in other states) have been counted Tuesday and the 8,000 ballots that remain will be counted by the end of the day.

Begich is on track to become the first Democrat in the state of Alaska elected to the U.S. Senate since the 1970s. Democrats would need the victory, as well as still undecided races in Georgia and Minnesota to be decided in their favor, in order to obtain a 60-vote filibuster proof majority in the senate.

Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the U.S. Senate, was convicted by a Washington, D.C. jury two weeks ago on seven felony counts of making false statements on Senate financial disclosure forms related to $250,000 in gifts he received from oil-field services company Veco Corp. and the company’s former Chief Executive Bill Allen.

Several high-ranking Republicans called on Stevens, 84, to resign. But the embattled senator refused and said he would appeal his conviction.

If Stevens is declared the winner of Alaska’s senate race, which now appears to be unlikely, he would face an automatic ethics investigation and it’s likely his colleagues will secure the two-thirds vote needed to expel him.

On Tuesday, Republican leaders delayed voting on a measure to oust Stevens from the Republican conference and strip him of his committee assignments pending the results of the election.

But even if the hotly contested race is decided Tuesday Begich and Stevens’s campaign officials expect a recount to take place in December.

In an e-mail sent to supporters after Begich overcame a 3,000 vote deficit last week, Begich campaign manager Heather Rauch said, “we expect that this will be a very close race and there will be a recount.”

“We are starting to prepare for this scenario, and will really need your support to make sure every vote is counted fairly,” Rauch’s e-mail said.

On Friday, Rauch sent out another email after Begich widened his lead against Stevens earlier in the day to 1,022 votes from 814 votes.

Rauch said the Begich campaign is preparing “for the onslaught of Republican lawyers we expect to come from the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Campaign to fight on behalf of Sen. Stevens.”

Campaign aides to Stevens said they expect to mount a vigorous legal challenge should Begich prevail and intend to call into question the integrity of absentee and questioned ballots (referred to as provisional ballots in other states) certified by the Alaska Division of Elections.

If Begich is declared the winner of the election, which is shaping up to be the likely outcome, he would become the first Democrat to serve the state of Alaska in the U.S. Senate since the 1970s.

Stevens’s campaign is also trying to raise money from supporters for the anticipated recount. Both campaigns said the money would be used to pay for attorneys to oversee the process throughout the state.

Alaska Division of Election officials said if either Begich or Stevens demanded a recount it would not take place until December. In Alaska, the losing candidate or a consortium of 10 registered voters can petition the Division of Elections for a recount if the election is won by .5% of the total votes cast.

Gail Fenumiai, the director of the Alaska Division of Elections, said in a letter Thursday that she expects the remainder of the absentee and questioned ballots will be counted by late Tuesday and certified shortly thereafter. There are about 24,000 ballots that need to be counted. Election officials counted about 14,500 ballots Friday.

“The division has received several inquiries asking why it is taking so long to count ballots,” Fenumiai’s letter says. “With over 90,000 ballots that needed to go through the statutorily mandated review process, as well as conducting a duplicate voter review, the division is quite pleased that we can announce we are ahead of the statutory deadline for reviewing and counting the absentee and questioned ballots.”

Many of the absentee and questioned ballots that still need to be counted are from Anchorage, an area that backed Begich leading into the Nov. 4, election, due in large part to Democrats promoting early voting and voting by absentee ballot.

In a statement posted on his campaign website Thursday, Begich said “we ran an aggressive campaign, especially when it came to early voting and absentee. Thousands of Alaskans, like me, did come out and vote early.”

Begich said he remains “cautiously optimistic” about his chances of defeating Stevens, the longest serving Republican senator in the U.S. Senate.  

If Begich prevails it will push Democrats closer to a 60-vote filibuster proof majority. Democrats would need to defeat Republicans in the still undecided aces in Minnesota and Georgia to reach a filibuster-proof majority.