Brendan Sweeney seeks court review of ballots in race vs. Suffolk Legis. Sarah Anker

Brendan Sweeney, the Republican candidate for the Suffolk County Legislature’s 6th District, is seeking a court review of ballots in his race against Legis. Sarah Anker, documents show.

Sweeney, who led by nearly 1,200 votes in early returns on election night, has filed a petition with Suffolk County Supreme Court to have a judge check dozens of ballots that Republican officials challenged, officials said.

The margin has narrowed in the weeks since, and Anker (D-Mount Sinai) is now down by just 12 votes in unofficial returns, with those 74 challenged ballots yet to be counted, according to Suffolk Democratic Party spokesman Keith Davies.

Anker will likely win if Justice Paul J. Baisley rules the majority of those ballots are valid and can be counted, Davies said.

The ballots — challenged by Republicans over issues such as whether voter signatures match — are all from registered Democratic voters, Davies said.

"The math just doesn’t work," Davies said of the Republican challenge. "There’s no way this works out that Sarah Anker doesn’t win and continue serving as legislator of the Sixth District."

Suffolk Republican chairman Jesse Garcia said the party feels "cautiously optimistic" about the results.

"We’re ensuring and practicing democracy," said Garcia, who also works at the Suffolk County Board of Elections as a GOP Hispanic outreach coordinator.

A court hearing is set for Monday morning before Baisley.

The results of the 6th District race will determine whether Republicans gain a supermajority of 12 legislators, enough to override vetoes and pass legislation and bonds without Democratic support. The Republican caucus, including Selden Conservative Nicholas Caracappa, will hold at least 11 seats in January after a red wave earlier this month helped the GOP flip three seats.

Sweeney, a Brookhaven Town citizens advocate, had 8,329 votes on election night, according to unofficial results. Anker, who is seeking a seventh term, had 7,141 votes, and Conservative Anthony DeSimone gained 1,488.

Anker narrowed the gap once officials began counting 1,847 absentee and affidavit ballots, officials said.

Republicans objected to the validity of some ballots over concerns such as voter signatures not matching, elections officials ruling incorrectly on challenges, and absentee ballots sent in after the due date, court records show.

Elections officials were split by party lines on whether to count the 74 total ballots challenged by Republicans and one contested by Democrats, Davies said. Under state law, such ballots would be opened and counted within three days without a legal challenge.

The race will likely be so close that a hand recount will be required under state law, officials said.

The law, which went into effect this year, requires a bipartisan committee to conduct a full manual recount when the margin of victory is 20 votes or less, or below 0.5%.

Republican Board of Elections commissioner Nick LaLota said there will be hand recounts in at least two other races: Southampton Town highway superintendent and Shelter Island Town council.

In Southampton, Republican Charles McArdle leads Democrat Thomas Neely by just 21 votes.

In Shelter Island, Democrat Brett G. Surerus is ahead of Republican Margaret A. Larsen by only six votes.

No date has been set for the manual recounts, and the process could extend well into the Thanksgiving holiday week, LaLota said Tuesday.

By Rachelle Blidner

rachelle.blidner@newsday.com,vera.chinese@newsday.com@rachelleblidner,

Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.