Nov. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic challenger Mark Begich is ahead by three votes in his bid to oust incumbent Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, according to the state's elections division.

Alaska is still counting absentee ballots from the Nov. 4 election. Anchorage Mayor Begich had been trailing Stevens by 3,257 votes until state officials started counting approximately 90,000 absentee ballots, a process that may stretch in to next week.

Begich now leads Stevens 125,019 votes to 125,016 votes, according to the Alaska Division of Elections Web site.

Officials plan to count approximately 50,000 votes today and the remaining 40,000 on Nov. 14, according to Jonathan O'Quinn, an elections program manager.

Stevens, 84, was convicted in federal court last month of failing to report $250,000 in gifts from an Alaska oil services company. He is the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate.

The race is one of three Senate contests still undecided more than a week after the election. A recount is under way in Minnesota and a Georgia contest will be decided by a runoff next month.

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Stern in Washington at cstern3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 12, 2008 22:32 EST