QUEENSBURY -- Longtime Queensbury at-large county Supervisor Fred Champagne, who appeared to have retained his seat on the Warren County Board of Supervisors on Election Day, has fallen behind challenger William Mason after elections officials revised the vote count from Tuesday's race.
When re-canvassing voting machines, officials from the county Board of Elections on Wednesday discovered that an election inspector on election night had misread the total number of votes for Mason on one machine, county Democratic Election Commissioner William Montfort said.
As a result, Mason, a Democratic and Conservative candidate, now has 2,317 votes.
As of Thursday, Mason led Champagne by 12 votes for the fourth and final at-large seat from Queensbury on the Board of Supervisors, according to unofficial results.
The outcome could still change again after absentee ballots are counted. Officials are scheduled to begin counting ballots at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
The Board of Elections mailed out 234 absentee ballots, of which 156 had been returned as of Monday.
Absentee ballots that arrived after Monday can still be counted, if the envelope was postmarked by Nov. 3.
The reporting error discovered on Wednesday does not change the vote count for any of the other candidates in the race.
Placing in the top three are Matthew Sokol, Republican and Independence, 2,987 votes; David Strainer, Democratic and Conservative, 2,437 votes; and William VanNess, Republican and Independence, 2,380 votes, according to unofficial results.
Sokol, Strainer and VanNess are all incumbents.
Placing in the bottom three positions are Dan Hajeck, Republican and Independence, 2,135 votes; Richard Sanford, Democratic and Conservative, 2,035 votes; and William Brown, Democratic and Conservative, 1,820 votes.
Elections officials are scheduled to count absentee ballots Tuesday morning in two other close races.
Absentee ballots from Lake George are scheduled to be counted at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
On election night, Republican/Conservative candidate Frank McCoy led Democrat Dennis Dickinson by eight votes, 592-584, in the race for Lake George town supervisor.
The two are competing for the seat being vacated by Louis Tessier, who is retiring after 26 years.
The Board of Elections mailed out 96 absentee ballots in the town, of which 72 had been returned as of Monday.
Later on Tuesday morning, absentee ballots in the 4th Ward of Glens Falls will be counted.
On election night, Democrat William Loeb led Republican/Independence candidate Dan Bruno by 10 votes, 132-122.
The two are competing for the seat being vacated by Michael O'Connor, who is retiring.
The Board of Elections mailed out 43 absentee ballots in the ward, of which 30 had been received as of Monday.
A reporting error in Glens Falls 5th Ward resulted in a change in the number of votes in the city mayor's race. But it did not change the vote tally in 5th Ward councilman race, which was won by incumbent Bennet Driscoll, who ran on the Democratic and Conservative lines, Montfort said.
About 50 votes were added to the citywide total for incumbent Mayor John "Jack" Diamond, bringing his total to about 1,970 votes, Montfort said.
Another 22 votes were added to the citywide total for independent mayoral candidate William Berg, bringing his total to 198 votes, according to unofficial results.
Posted in Govt-and-politics on Thursday, November 5, 2009 11:50 pm
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