Above: Democratic supervisor Marge Miller and Republican challenger Nelson Delameter, of the Delaware County town of Middletown. In unofficial results from the county Board of Elections, Delameter bested Miller by just 22 votes.
Most of Tuesday's races in local elections were settled decisively. But around the Catskills, there are still a few close races in which voters will have to wait until all absentee and affidavit ballots are counted to be sure of the victor.
The Watershed Post canvassed the county Boards of Elections on Wednesday to find out how many absentee ballots are still outstanding in the region's closest races. Affidavit ballots, which are cast by voters in cases where it is unclear whether the voter has the right to vote in the district, could also have an impact on some of the closest races.
Not all absentee ballots have been received by the county Boards of Elections yet. To count in the election, absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 4, but they will still be accepted until Nov. 12. After the deadline passes, the county Boards of Elections will begin counting absentee and affidavit ballots.
In Schoharie County, where 12 of the county's 16 towns had contested races for town supervisor, three supervisor races were too close to call on election night. Just two votes separate Fulton supervisor Phillip Skowfoe, with 214, from challenger Francis Tatten, with 212. Twenty-seven absentee ballots were issued in the race, and 24 have been received already.
The margin isn't much wider in Wright, where three votes separate Democratic front-runner Karl Remmers' 320 votes from Republican Amber Bleau's 317. The two are vying for the seat of the town's late former supervisor William Goblet, who died in March. In that race, 42 absentee ballots were sent out, and 34 have been received.
Blenheim supervisor Robert Mann, with 64 votes, trails challenger Shawn Smith with 70. With just ten absentee ballots issued in the race -- seven of which had been received as of Wednesday -- the outcome of this race is unlikely to shift, but it's possible.
In the Schoharie town council race, in which three candidates ran for two open seats, Matt Brisley won his seat decisively with 627 votes, But the other two candidates have just 17 votes separating them: Allen Tavenner is the presumed winner, with 522 votes, trailed by John Wolfe with 505. There were 80 absentee ballots issued in the race, of which 67 have been returned.
A town supervisor race in Delaware County is still too close to call: Middletown, where incumbent Democrat Marge Miller appears to have lost her seat to Republican challenger Nelson Delameter by a 22-vote margin. The unofficial vote count was 467 for Miller, 489 for Delameter; 107 absentee ballots were sent out and 82 have been received so far.
In Roxbury, a three-way race for two town council seats has a gap of just 11 votes between the second and third-place candidate. Republican incumbent Allen Hinkley is a clear winner with 475 votes, but the other two are nearly neck and neck: Republican incumbent Gene Cronk leads with 410 votes, and Democratic challenger Melody Lee has 399.
Greene County has several close races, including the closely-watched race for Windham town supervisor, where challenger Stacy Post leads incumbent Stephen Walker 292-266.
In New Baltimore, incumbent Democratic town supervisor Susan O'Rorke trails her Republican challenger Nicholas Dellisanti by 19 votes, 536-555. Eighty absentee ballots have been issued, of which 56 have already been received.
Two races in the town of Lexington are close: The race for highway superintendent, in which Republican Frank Hermance leads Democrat George Dart 181-167, and the four-way race for town council, where second- and third-place finishers Bradley Jenkins and Sharon D'Addario, both Republicans, are separated by just 14 votes. Forty-nine absentee ballots were issued in the race, of which 40 have been received.
Coxsackie also has a close town council race, with four candidates vying for two seats. In unofficial results, the tally stands: Patrick Kennedy with 848 votes, Jeffrey Lewis with 800, Robert VanValkenburg Jr. with 780, and Earl Hotaling with 777. One hundred twenty-four absentee ballots were issued in the race, of which 93 have been received.
The results of town supervisor races in Sullivan County were clear, but a few other local races were close. In the four-way race for two town justice seats in Tusten, Thomas Nuttycombe emerged as a clear victor with 411 votes, but the next two -- David Casey with 214 votes, and Carmine Rufrano with 204 -- are too close to be certain. A fourth candidate, Charles Hoffman, got 83 votes.
A three-way race for two seats on the Woodridge village board of trustees was also a squeaker, with just five votes separating two of the candidates. Front-runner Leni Binder got 109 votes, Isaac Yits Kantrowitz got 90, and Louis Saperstein got 85.
Another three-way race for two seats on the Delaware town board was close as well: Alfred Steppich got 439 votes, John Gain got 427, and John Murphy got 404.
Ulster County voters elected county legislators this year, as well as town officials. The closest legislative race was also one of the most intensely watched: The 21st District, where legislative chair Terry Bernardo, a Republican, currently has just a 10-vote margin over her Democratic challenger, Lynn Archer. In that race, 185 absentee ballots were sent out, and 139 had been received.
The nearby 14th District was also close, with a 46-vote difference between Craig Lopez, with 863, and Tim Distel, with 817. In that race, 164 absentee ballots were sent out, and 118 have been received.
Several of Kingston's Common Council elections were close. The tightest was Ward 9, where incumbent Deborah Brown has a 13-vote margin on challenger Lynn Johnson. If all the unofficial results stand, the Times Herald-Record reports, Brown will be the only Republican on Kingston's governing board.
Tiny Hardenburgh had an outsized number of absentee ballots this year: 58 were issued, and 49 have been received so far. The absentee ballots are unlikely to shift the results of the town supervisor's race, where incumbent Paul Ohsberg leads former supervisor Jerry Fairbairn 49 to 31, but races for town council and highway superintendent are very close. In the highway superintendent race, Charles Storms currently has 43 votes; Carlton Finch had 38. Four candidates are vying for two seats on town council: Sherry Bellows with 48 votes, Douglas Odell with 43, William Schluter with 39, and John Sackel Jr. with 33.
Just two votes separate the candidates in the race for town justice in Plattekill: Democrat John Sisti has 1,007 votes, while Republican Robert Murphy has 1,005. The four-way race for two town council seats in Plattekill is also close. Dean DePew is the front-runner with 1,174 votes, but victory is not yet certain for the next in line, Cynthia Delgado, who has 1,005 -- just 36 more than Lorraine Morano, with 971. A fourth candidate, Mark Jaffee, got 779 votes. In Plattekill, 107 absentee ballots were sent out; 69 have been received.
A four-way race for town council in Rochester is tight: The tally stands at Antonino Spano with 1,016, Sherry Chachkin with 946, Harold Lipton with 919, and Philip Davis with 890. In that race, 166 absentee ballots were sent out; 126 have been received.
Marlborough had three propositions on the ballot this year. The first, a proposition to lease the Milton Elementary School building for town offices, passed by a solid 1,294 to 860. Two others, to extend term limits of the highway superintendent and town clerk from four years to two, appear to have been narrowly defeated. The highway superintendent proposition has apparently been defeated at 1,038-1,105; the town clerk proposition was closer, at 1,061-1,084. In Marlborough, 129 absentee ballots have been sent out, and 93 have been received.
For unofficial results from all local races, see your county's Board of Elections website: Delaware County, Greene County, Schoharie County, Sullivan County, Ulster County.
Update, 10:25pm: Post updated to add a town council race in Roxbury.
