Dougherty wins, Waddington concedes after absentee ballot count in Shelter Island supervisor race

Supervisor Jim Dougherty won the race for Shelter Island Town supervisor on Friday as the Board of Elections finished its count of absentee and affidavit ballots in Yaphank.

Mr. Dougherty beat his two challengers in the absentee voting by a margin of more than two to one.

When the count becomes official, he will be the first supervisor to win a third term since Democrat Hoot Sherman in 1995 and only the third supervisor to do so since Republican Evans Griffing in the 1960s.

“It is over and I lost. The absentees beat me,” said his closet challenger, Councilman Glenn Waddington, in an emailed response to a request for comment on Saturday. “I feel pretty bad about letting so many people down but am proud of the campaign we ran. I think it was tight clean and the message was clear. We did pretty well going up against the two major parties and I do not think Jim won by any kind of mandate. I will certainly work the absentees harder next time I run.”

Mr. Waddington ran as an independent under the Island Unity Party banner and also had the Conservative Party endorsement.

Unofficial results Friday night showed Mr. Dougherty, who ran on the Democratic, Independence and Working Families lines, with a 23-vote margin over Mr.  Waddington, 630 votes to 607. Republican Bob Stefano’s total was 278.

The results of the council race appeared to have been unchanged by the absentee count Friday, with incumbent Peter Reich winning a third term and independent Paul Shepherd winning the other seat on the Town Board that was at stake in a five-way race.

Commissioner Anita Katz said Friday that results would not be certified and announced until Monday at the earliest. Glenn Waddington’s supporters asked for the two election commissioners to personally review 22 contested ballots and that’s scheduled to happen on Monday. Even if he were awarded all 22, it appears he’d still be behind.

Mr. Waddington had a 61-vote lead in the unofficial count on Election Day but Mr. Dougherty by Friday afternoon, as mailed-in ballots were counted in Yaphank, he was trailing by only four votes.

The Board of Elections took a dinner break at 5 o’clock Friday, with only the mailed-in ballots for Election District 4 still to be counted. At about 7:30 p.m., after the break, the word was out that Mr. Dougherty had taken 37 votes in District 4 to 10 for Mr. Waddington and 19 for Bob DeStefano.

The total absentee and affidavit count, unofficially, was 142 for Mr. Dougherty, 58 for Mr. Waddington and 57 for Mr. DeStefano.

Because of  discrepancies and challenges, the count could change but Mr. Doughherty’s victory appears certain. The numbers are not official and were provided by observers, not the Board of Elections.

Based on reporting by Gianna Volpe from the Board of Elections Friday