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Some Lewis County Election Races Can’t Be Determined
Until Write-In, Absentee, and Affidavit Ballots Counted and Results
Certified
Published: November 08, 2023
at 11:30 a.m.
By: Nick Altmire
Lewis County, NY- While the
majority of contested races in Lewis County were determined following
ballot tabulations and the release of unofficial results after the close
of polls last evening, there are a number of races where we will need to
await the certified official results. As per New York State law, County
Election Boards have until December 2, 2023 to
canvas and certify their results.
In the race for
District Attorney, incumbent Leanne K. Moser (D) is currently trailing
challenger Jeffery Tompkins (R/C) by 49 votes as of Wednesday morning. Mr.
Tompkins currently has 3,009 votes to Ms. Moser’s 2,960. While the process
for counting absentee ballots changed in New York State in 2021, there are
still 105 absentee ballots outstanding in the county according to the Lewis
County Board of Elections. Prior to 2021, local Election Boards had to wait
until 10 days after the election to open and count all absentee ballots at
the same time. Starting in 2021 the statute changed, allowing absentee
ballots to be opened and counted as they are received. All absentee ballots
that have been returned as of this morning are included in the current vote
totals. Any valid absentee ballot had to be postmarked by yesterday but can
still be received at the Board of Elections in the coming days. Absentee
ballot counts will be updated and added daily to the Lewis County Board of Elections website. Although there
are still 105 absentee ballots that are outstanding (meaning a ballot was
issued but has not been received back), that does not mean all 105 ballots
will be returned. There are also 29 affidavit ballots in the county that
are not yet included in the totals. An affidavit ballot occurs when there
is an issue or discrepancy when someone shows up to vote in person. This
could be a voter showing up to the wrong polling location, having a name
change that doesn’t match their voter registration information, or other
similar situations. In those cases, the voter signs an affidavit confirming
their identity and residence and the Election Commissioners then investigate
and verify if the ballot is valid or not. This process can take some time
and the approved affidavit ballots will appear in the final certified
results. With all of this information in mind, a
winner in the District Attorney race can’t be declared until we have the
certified vote count on or before December 2.
Another factor
impacting some races are ballots with a write-in candidate. The names of
candidates receiving write-in votes are not released until the results have
been certified (on or before December 2). The process is time consuming,
with ballots containing a write-in candidate having to be identified and
the write-in names tallied. Most races impacted by this were races that had
no declared candidate on the ballot for the position. This was the case for:
·
Harrisburg Town Clerk/Collector- No Candidate, 25
write-in ballots
·
Lewis Town Clerk- No candidate, 23 write-in ballots
·
Leyden Town Highway Superintendent- No candidate, 136
write-in ballots
·
Lyonsdale Town Clerk- No candidate, 56 write-in
ballots
·
Martinsburg Town Tax Collector- No candidate, 17
write-in ballots
·
Montague Town Clerk/Collector- No candidate, 8
write-in ballots
·
New Bremen Town Council- No candidate, 127 write-in
ballots
·
Osceola Town Supervisor- No candidate, 25 write-in
ballots
·
Port Leyden Village Trustee (To Fill a Vacancy)- No
candidate, 66 write in ballots
There are also a
few races where there was a declared candidate on the ballot, but the
number of write-in ballots exceeds their vote total. While we know the
number of ballots containing a write-in candidate, we do not know how many
people the write-in ballots are split amongst. This was the case for:
·
Montague Town Council (2 seats)- Michael Kiernan has
20 votes, Richard Williams has 11 votes, while there are 12 write-in ballots
·
Port Leyden Village Mayor- Shawn Smith has 63 votes
while there are 115 write-in ballots
·
Port Leyden Village Trustee (2 seats)- Erin Mikesell
has 59 votes while there are 217 write-in ballots
Lewis County
Board of Elections Commissioners ask for patience as all ballots are
canvassed and the certification process takes place, with official results
available on or before the December 2, 2023
certification deadline.
We will release
certified results for all races as soon as they are available.
Note: This
article was updated at 5:45 p.m. to include Osceola Town Supervisor with
the listed write-in contests with no declared candidate on the ballot.
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