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Board of Elections: Gerth in as supervisor; Kaasik/Dickson squeaker still undecided

CHARITY ROBEY PHOTO Gary Gerth at home on Shelter Island.
CHARITY ROBEY PHOTO Gary Gerth at home on Shelter Island.

Gary Gerth will be sworn in as Shelter Island’s next supervisor in January.

Statistically, it’s impossible for Supervisor Jim Dougherty to close a gap with absentee ballots, according to Suffolk County Board of Elections Commissioner Nick LaLota.

Reached Tuesday, Mr. LaLota reported that at the last count, Mr. Gerth had a 46-vote lead over Mr. Dougherty. There are 38 disputed absentee ballots, making it impossible for Mr. Dougherty to win, the commissioner said.

The last tally was 637 votes for Mr. Gerth to 591 for Mr. Dougherty.

Those 38 disputed absentee ballots will decide the race for a Town Board seat contested by Democrat Albert Dickson and Republican Marcus Kaasik.

Mr. Kaasik led the race when the polls closed on election night, but when the absentee ballots were counted, the spread was 10 votes and it had turned in Mr. Dickson’s favor.

The attempt to resolve those 38 disputed ballots will start with the party representatives and Board of Elections officials, Mr. LaLota said. But if the race can’t be settled there, it will fall to a judge to validate some or all of the disputed ballots, Mr. LaLota said.

Mr. Dickson currently has a reported 681 votes to Mr. Kaasik’s 671.