An unprecedented number of absentee ballots mean that a quick determination of who won some Election Day contests was not in the cards.

In Long Island's congressional races, three politicians declared victory. But none of those races have been officially called as of early Wednesday morning.

The absentee ballot totals are high and will only increase over the coming week. Suffolk officials say they've taken in 145,000 absentee ballots so far and are expecting tens of thousands more. In Nassau, about 140,000 absentee ballots have been collected so far.

Absentee ballots had to be postmarked for Nov. 3 in order to be counted, and those ballots won't be counted until Nov. 10 due to a state law.

Even with high-speed scanners in place, officials say processing those paper ballots could take weeks.

For now, the ballots are sitting in a secure room that is guarded by law enforcement and cannot be accessed unless a Republican and Democratic election official is present.