Democrat Dave Clegg apparently has won the closely contested race for Ulster County district attorney as county Board of Elections staff on Wednesday, Dec. 11 completed their tally of votes cast in the Nov. 6 election.
Last week, election officials completed their count of absentee and affidavit ballots, leaving Democrat Dave Clegg with a 45-vote lead over Republican Mike Kavanagh. On Wednesday, Dec. 4, both sides appeared in court to begin the process of counting or dismissing 289 ballots that have been subject to challenges.
A count of absentee and affidavit ballots has left Democrat Dave Clegg clinging to a miniscule 45-vote lead over Republican Mike Kavanagh in the closely watched race for Ulster County district attorney. But with hundreds of ballot challenges awaiting a judge’s ruling — and a county law that will likely trigger an automatic recount of every vote cast — a final decision in the contest could still be weeks away.
Despite a 21-vote margin win by former legislature chairman John Parete over incumbent Democrat Kathy Nolan, Ulster County Democrats appeared poised to maintain their single-vote majority in the Ulster County Legislature after a count of absentee ballots failed to upend election night results.
Hurley supervisor John Perry, a Republican, topped Democrat and former Woodstock town supervisor Tracy Kellogg in a rematch of their race two years ago, though control of the town board slipped away from the GOP with the elections of political newcomers Melinda McKnight and Peter Humphries on November 5.
“Thirty six years is long enough,” said Sylvia Rozzelle, Town of Olive’s current supervisor and former town clerk on the morning of November 6, when asked her opinion of the previous evening’s vote tallies, which saw a sweep by her party, the Democrats, in all municipal races. “It’s time for new people, for new energy in Olive.”
A write-in campaign by former supervisor Jeff Moran did little to keep incumbent Bill McKenna from re-election to another two years as Woodstock town supervisor. Preliminary results show McKenna received 1796 votes while write-ins, presumably for Moran for the top town seat totaled 462.
Another close election result in Ulster County.
A rollercoaster of an election night, followed by a suspenseful Wednesday morning, ended up with the closely watched race for Ulster County District Attorney in a virtual dead heat, even as Democrats secured decisive victories in two more countywide races and appeared poised to maintain their one-vote majority in the County Legislature.
Kingston Mayor Steve Noble won a second four-year term in office Tuesday, beating out two challengers in what he described as an affirmation that Kingston was on the right track and behind his progressive agenda.