A small town battle over fewer than 70 ballots from November's election could decide if downstate New Yorkers, most of them Democrats, can vote from their weekend and vacation homes upstate, a Republican outpost that can be shaken by a few strategically placed voters. In the town of Taghkanic in Columbia County , some 100 miles north of New York City, a handful of local elections - highway superintendent, town justice and two town council seats - are on hold until the courts decide whether final ballots can be counted. The winners are supposed to take office Jan. 1. A...