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While several races were not even close, the main event in Whitehall will all come down to the absentee ballots.
In the race to succeed the late Stephen Lane on the Whitehall town board of trustees, Democratic candidate Jim Putorti held a 13-vote lead as of Tuesday evening, receiving 660 votes against 647 votes that were cast for Republican Jiem Rozell.
“We will just have to wait for the absentee ballots and see what happens,” said Putorti at the town hall Tuesday night as votes came in. “I will hope for the best. We will wait and see right now what is going to happen.”
“It just depends on the absentee ballots now,” said Rozell. “It was a very good turnout, though and I am happy with the election.”
In an unopposed race, town clerk Julie Millett dropped the appointed title from her name, receiving 920 votes for the position.
In Whitehall, turnout was very heavy, with 1,307 voters casting ballots for the position of town councilman and 1,540 residents making their voices heard in the Presidential election.
“I think that everything went nicely,” said Whitehall District I election commissioner Mae Gebo. “There were no complaints and we did not see any problems.”
Gebo said that poll workers were impressed by the number of first time and younger voters who turned out for the election.
“We had a lot of young voters, more than normal,” said Gebo. “There were a lot of first time voters and I think that was because of the Presidential election and what this one has meant to people.”
In District I, Gebo said that over 250 people had voted in the election, which was about two-thirds of the registered voters in the district.
In Whitehall, the majority of voters supported Republican Sen. John McCain with 808 votes, with 706 residents voting for Democratic President-Elect Barack Obama. Voters cast 26 other votes for non-majority party candidates for president.
Whitehall did vote with the majority on the federal congressional race, casting 949 votes for incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand to 477 votes for Sandy Treadwell. State assemblyman-elect Anthony Jordan, who also serves as the village of Whitehall town attorney, scored a 743-484 win over Ian McGaughey.
Hampton town supervisor
In the race to replace Leon “Skip” Clark, Jr. as town supervisor in Hampton, appointed supervisor Don Sady scored an easy win over write-in candidate Bill Gage, receiving 186 votes.
“I feel great about being elected,” said Sady. “I just hope that I can do the job the people have elected me for.”
Sady said that he has enjoyed working with the board in the capacity of supervisor so far, but is still looking to learn more about the position.
“This is still my maiden voyage into this,” said Sady. “I still feel I need to fully get my feet wet.”
Sady said that he was unsure if he would be officially sworn in at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Hampton town board and has not talked with the members of the board about appointing a successor to his town board seat.
“I am not sure what the pleasure of the board is,” said Sady. “We will most likely take care of things at the next board meeting, and if the vacant seat comes up, we may look to fill it. We have had a couple of people express interest in being on the board.”
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