There were no surprises, of course. With the exception of the Town of Hardenburgh, write-ins didn’t elect anybody, but some of the efforts were noteworthy.
In the no-contest race for county executive — incumbent Democrat Mike Hein was unopposed by any political party — an unprecedented 717 write-in votes were cast for 186 people. Valeria Gheorghiu of Kingston led the pack with 365. Gheorghiu mounted a web campaign in October and easily outdistanced her closest pursuer, Town of Ulster Supervisor Jim Quigley, who had 51 write-in votes. Quigley briefly flirted with a run against Hein on the Republican ticket, until a $6,000 poll he paid for indicated a hopeless quest. Hein’s official total approached 27,000 votes — against no opposition — suggests the Quigley poll might have had it right.
Legislature Minority Leader Jeanette Provenzano got 10 write-in votes for executive, Fightin’ Joe DiFalco of Kingston 13, Fred Wadnola 11, Kevin Cahill seven, Len Bernardo seven, and Hayes Clement six. Hugh Reynolds and Bill Reynolds (no relation) got one vote each. As far as I know, Hugh Reynolds has never voted for an unopposed candidate, reasoning that voting only compounds the crime of having been disenfranchised by conniving politicians.
About that Gheorghiu name, hard to pronounce and even more difficult to spell, a board of elections official told me spellings didn’t have to be exact. “We go by obvious intent,” she said. The overly picky elections board might think about expanding that policy in other obvious situations, like dotting letters and exact dates.
For those who wondered about the race for Kingston mayor that never was, write-in results were an indicator Republican Andi Turco-Levin might have beaten Democrat Hayes Clement. Turco-Levin got 118 write-ins and Clement 97, according to official results. They lost their respective primaries by a total of 17 votes.
The only place where write-ins really counted was in the little Town of Hardenburgh (how still they sleep tonight) where nobody was on the ballot for supervisor. Paul Homburg got 44 write-in votes, trouncing runner-up Doug O’Dell, who had seven. Hardenburgh has about 240 residents.
Write-ins were revealing in Kingston’s troubled Midtown, where incumbent Democrat Shirley Whitlock defeated Republican Frasier Sprague 159-100 in a near three-to-one Democratic ward. That 117 residents cast write-in votes (31 percent of the total vote) suggests Whitlock needs to take care of business.
Which is to say that write-ins, though rarely decisive, can make a statement.
So long, Fred
Different reporters cover exit interviews in different ways. Though my editors don’t always agree, I tend to give the soon-to-be-departed their say, since we’ve all had our shots during their tenures. At best, swan songs can be revealing, at worst puffery. “I did it my way” is one of my favorite meaningless exit lines.
