After trimming Democrat Scott Murphy’s vote lead Monday, Republican Jim Tedisco lost ground Tuesday morning as absentee ballots continued to be counted in the still-unresolved New York special election.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Murphy led the former state Assembly Minority Leader by 56 votes — he had 77,972 to Tedisco’s 77,916, according to totals released by the state board of elections.

Since absentee ballots counting began Wednesday, the pace of the counting has moved slowly and, as of Tuesday morning, domestic absentee ballot counting was complete in just half of the 10 counties that make up the 20th district.

Despite the current tally, Republicans firmly believe they will make up ground when absentee ballot totals come in from Saratoga County, which has yet to report any results. Saratoga is the most populous county in the district, and it was won by Tedisco on Election Day.

Overseas absentee ballots, including those of military personnel, are set to begin being counted Tuesday.