Still too close to call in Schenectady mayor election; McCarthy leads as decision moves to state court

PHOTOGRAPHER: Kathleen Moore

The extensive inspection of mail-in ballots for the Schenectady mayor’s race is finally complete, and acting Mayor Gary McCarthy still has a commanding lead.

But the winner of the election will be decided in court — it’s still too close to call.

McCarthy, the Democrat, holds a 62-vote lead over Alliance Party founder Roger Hull. McCarthy was 77 votes ahead on Election Night, and his side now believes he will hold onto that lead and become Schenectady’s next mayor.

County Attorney Chris Gardner, a Democrat serving as the attorney for the Board of Elections, said Hull has only a “plausible” chance of winning — “It’s plausible. But not probable.”

The race has not yet been decided because there are 225 mail-in and affidavit ballots yet to be counted. In each case, at least one of the candidates’ attorneys objected to the ballot.

Some of those will never be counted because they were turned in without signatures, or by residents who weren’t registered voters.

But the vast majority of the ballots are expected to be opened in court after state Supreme Court Judge Vincent Reilly rules on each of them, one by one.

Hull would have to win two-thirds of those ballots to win the race. The odds of doing that are daunting, his side admitted.

“It’s definitely an uphill battle,” said Brian Young, Hull’s campaign manager. “But we faced an uphill battle since Day One. There’s still hope.”

Attorneys for Hull and McCarthy planned to spend the rest of the week studying their objections and deciding which ones they might be willing to withdraw before going to court.

McCarthy’s attorney, Kathleen O’Keefe, said they likely would not take all 225 ballots to court.

“That’s a very long hearing, to do something like that,” she said.

She predicted that both sides would be ready to present their arguments to Reilly on Monday, possibly after agreeing to have some ballots opened at the Board of Elections on Monday morning.

Hull’s attorney, James Walsh, said he also expects to withdraw some objections.

“I would assume we’re going to see another round of opening,” he said.

Although he still held out hope of Hull winning, he shook his head as the final ballots were opened Monday. Earlier, he had predicted that Hull needed to overwhelmingly win a crucial district to win the race: “If the numbers aren’t there, they’re not there,” he said.

Hull tied with McCarthy on that district.

As the attorneys neared the end of the ballot count Monday, Reilly came to the Board of Elections himself and asked to meet with both sides. He wanted to be sure no one would call him at the last minute before the Thanksgiving holiday, looking for an emergency hearing. Both sides assured him they would not.

The judge also wanted to schedule time for them in his calendar so the race can be decided soon. Neither side has committed to a time yet, though both are hoping for Monday.