Alaska's Stevens trails as Senate count nears end

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - U.S. Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, convicted last month on corruption charges, trails his Democratic challenger by 2,374 votes as the vote count for the state's U.S. Senate race nears its end, state election officials said on Tuesday.

Some 10,000 more ballots are left to count on Tuesday, according to Democrat Party officials. Those could be the last ballots, although absentee ballots could arrive on Wednesday and would need to be counted too.

Stevens, 85, was convicted on October 27 of seven counts of lying on Senate disclosure forms by failing to report more than $250,000 in home improvements and other gifts from an oil executive. He faces up to five years in prison on each count.

Democratic challenger Mark Begich is the mayor of Anchorage

Alaska is one three states still undecided following the November 4 elections. If Democrats take all three Senate seats, they will hold a majority large enough to withstand Republican maneuvers.

(Reporting by Yereth Rosen, writing by Mary Milliken, Editing by Sandra Maler)