Sausville keeps lead in Malta absentees

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

After 105 absentee ballots were tallied Wednesday in the Malta town supervisor race, Republican incumbent Paul Sausville retained the roughly 60-vote lead he had on election night.

“As expected the absentees followed the same lines as the [machine vote],” said Democratic challenger Cynthia Young.

Young watched as the absentee ballots were opened, closely examined, and counted Wednesday afternoon at the Saratoga County Board of Elections.

Of the 105 absentee ballots returned in the town election, 63 were from Republicans, 17 from Democrats, 17 from voters not enrolled in a party and five from Independence Party members and three others.

Sausville will not become the official winner in the Malta supervisor race until after Nov. 21, the last day for military votes to be received. The election results will be certified after that.

Board of Elections officials said there are not enough military votes to make a difference in the Malta race. The machine totals in the supervisor race are 1,378 votes for Sausville and 1,317 for Young and after the absentees were added Sausville retained an unofficial 61-vote lead.

“I think we ran a good campaign,” Young said. She said Republican voters in Malta outnumber Democratic voters 3-1 yet Sausville was re-elected by only a slim margin.

The only election race in which absentee ballots changed the outcome of the machine voting total was for highway superintendent in the small town of Edinburg, where Republican Wayne Seelow defeated Integrity Party candidate Robert Vandenburg by an unofficial 17 votes after the 53 absentee votes were counted. Vandenburg had led Seelow by four votes on the machine vote tally.

Seelow will succeed Marvin Wilson, who is retiring.

Saratoga Springs

In Saratoga Springs, Mayor Scott Johnson, a Republican, retained his 200-plus vote lead over Democratic challenger Brent Wilkes after 371 absentee ballots were counted. In fact, Johnson increased his lead to 291 votes for a total of 3,518 to Wilkes’ 3,227 votes.

In the two Saratoga Springs City Council races, the Democratic challengers retained their leads over the Republican incumbents.

Christian Mathiesen had an unofficial 244-vote lead over Public Safety Commissioner Richard Wirth and Michele Madigan lengthened her lead to 406 votes over Finance Commissioner Kenneth Ivins Jr.

In the town of Wilton, Republican Steven Streicher led Jared Dinsmore, an independent running on the Democratic line for Town Board, by an unofficial 13 votes after absentees were counted. A total of 125 absentee ballots were counted in the Wilton Town Board race, with both candidates watching the process.

Representatives of each candidate also kept a close eye on the absentee ballots as the addresses were checked and envelopes were opened. Some votes improperly marked were challenged.

Dinsmore said he’s not sure if he will run for public office again,

“I met a lot of good people on both sides,” Dinsmore said.

He ran as a team with Republican John Lant, a local fire chief.

Lant and Streicher, a physical therapist and longtime Wilton resident, will fill the two Wilton Town Board seats that are currently held by Raymond O’Conor, who decided not to seek reelection, and Charles Gerber, who received only 434 votes on the Conservative line in the general election after losing the Republican primary to Lant.

Streicher said he wanted to thank the town residents who voted him into office. He said he wants to keep Wilton free of a town tax and make sure “common sense” prevails on the Town Board.

Absentee ballot counting will continue today at the Board of Elections.

Elections Commissioners William Fruci and Roger Schiera said votes in close election races in the towns of Charlton and Ballston will be counted first.

In Charlton, Supervisor Alan Grattidge led Paul J. St. John 611-553 on the machine vote. There are only 42 absentee ballots to be counted, so Grattidge’s 58-vote lead should keep him in office in 2012.

In the town of Ballston, Supervisor Patti Southworth was leading Peter J. Connors, 1,225-1,134, in the machine-vote tally.

Absentee votes in the city of Mechanicville and towns of Clifton Park, Halfmoon, Stillwater, Corinth, Day, Greenfield and Waterford will also be counted today, according to Board of Elections officials. But no races there hang in the balance awaiting the absentee tally.