There are three races in the Senate and five in the House that are too close to call. Recounts and legal challenges could keep several of them up in the air well into December. In addition, under Louisiana’s unique electoral system, two congressional seats won’t be filled until another round of balloting in four weeks.

Senate

• Minnesota: With 100 percent of the vote counted, first-term Republican Sen. Norm Coleman holds a 238-vote lead, out of 2.9 million cast, over Democrat Al Franken, a well-known comedian and writer. The razor-thin margin has triggered an automatic recount but under state election law that process cannot begin until the state canvassing board meets Nov. 18. The recount would then take between one and two weeks to complete — and depending on the outcome, further legal challenges after that cannot be ruled out.

• Georgia: Here, it’s not about incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss ’ edge over Democratic former state Rep. Jim Martin, which is more than 3 points. Georgia law requires that a candidate receive a majority of votes on Election Day in order to be declared the outright winner and avoid a runoff. The current count, according to the Associated Press, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, shows Chambliss falling just short with 49.8 percent of the vote to 46.8 percent for Martin. Martin has already begun campaigning for a runoff, which would be held Dec. 2.

Republicans contend that Chambliss would have the advantage in a runoff, arguing that Democrat Martin, who is white, would have difficulty generating the kind of huge turnout among the black constituency — more than a quarter of the state’s population — that came out in strength for Barack Obama . But the cash-rich Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has pledged to pour money into Georgia to back Martin if the race goes to a runoff, and Democratic strategists argue that Republican voters may be deflated by their party’s setbacks and are less likely to return to the polls in less than four weeks.

• Alaska: At this point, beleaguered Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens ’ bid for re-election to the seat he has held for 40 years has a good chance of being declared a Republican victory. Despite his conviction a week before Election Day on seven felony charges of lying on his Senate financial disclosure forms, his strong political base at home helped him score 48.08 percent to 46.61 percent for Democrat Mark Begich, the mayor of Anchorage. Stevens leads by about 3,300 votes out of more than 200,000 cast. The campaigns Thursday night informed reporters that over 70,000 absentee, early, provisional, and other ballots remained to be counted. The outcome won’t be known until Nov. 14 at the earliest.

Of course, even a confirmed win by Stevens probably would not be the end of the story. Senate leaders have said they expect Stevens to be expelled. Should his seat end up vacated, a special election would have to be held to replace him.

• Illinois and Delware: Obama will resign the seat he holds in Illinois and Vice President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. will do the same in Delaware prior to their inaugurations Jan. 20. Both seats will stay Democratic, as Democratic governors in both states will appoint Obama’s and Biden’s successors — who will serve at least two years.

The Delaware appointment will be on an interim basis: Biden was easily re-elected to the Senate on Tuesday concurrently with his election as vice president, and a special election will be held in Delaware in 2010 to fill the remaining four years of Biden’s unexpired term. Obama’s seat is next up in the regularly scheduled Illinois election of 2010, so no special election will occur there.

House

• California 4: In the race to succeed Republican Rep. John T. Doolittle , Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock continues to open a lead as provisional and absentee ballots are counted in his too-close-to-call race against Democratic former Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Charlie Brown. As of Friday afternoon’s totals, provided by the California Secretary of State’s office, McClintock led by 451 votes in California’s 4th District race.

• Louisiana 2: Nine-term Democratic Rep. William J. Jefferson is awaiting trial on federal corruption charges, but he is still heavily favored to defeat Republican lawyer Joseph Cao in a black-majority, heavily Democratic swath of southeastern Louisiana that includes the bulk of New Orleans. Jefferson took 57 percent of the vote in a Democratic runoff against Helena Moreno, a local television journalist. Since Hurricane Gustav forced a delay in the primaries, the runoff in two districts was pushed to Nov. 4 and Dec. 6 is Election Day for the two Louisiana seats.

• Louisiana 4: In this conservative-leaning swath of northwestern Louisiana, Democrat Paul Carmouche, a longtime district attorney in Shreveport, and Republican physician John Fleming will vie for the seat that Republican Rep. Jim McCrery is giving up after two decades. Carmouche won his party’s runoff with 62 percent of the vote and Fleming won 56 percent in the Republican balloting.