Shelter Island's absentee ballots slated to be counted Thursday

Candidates, party workers and lawyers were expected to be on hand at the Board of Elections in Yaphank Thursday, November 17, when the board was scheduled to begin recanvassing last Tuesday’s election results and count more than 300 absentee ballots and affidavit ballots that could change the outcome of the supervisor race.

“Jim Dougherty is absolutely still in the race,” Democratic Committee Chair Heather Reylek told supporters in an email last week. “As with the Bishop campaign last year, the results hinge on absentee ballots and affidavits.”

Congressman Tim Bishop’s reelection victory in 2010 came a month after Election Day when his opponent, Republican Randy Altschuler, conceded defeat, trailing in the recount by 263 votes out of nearly 200,000. It was the last House of Representatives race to be decided in last year’s mid-term elections.

Ms. Reylek said in her email here would be “very experienced attorneys observing and advising” as the absentee and affidavit ballots are opened and counted. She predicted that the results won’t be certified for several weeks but “we’ll have a good idea of the results by the end of next week,” meaning today or Friday, November 18.

The Shelter Island count could be delayed as the Board of Elections first audits and counts ballots in legislative races and in the larger towns, a spokesperson for Board of Elections Commissioner Wayne T. Rogers said Monday.

Republican Committee Chair Amber Williams on Monday predicted that the results of Tuesday’s machine vote will hold but that supervisor candidate Glenn Waddington’s 61-vote margin over incumbent Jim Dougherty will narrow as absentee ballots are counted. Absentee ballots on the Island tend to be cast by part-time or retired residents who historically vote Democratic.

Ms. Williams estimated that Mr. Dougherty would have to win nearly 60 percent of the ballots to take the lead and she considered that unlikely. Councilman Peter Reich, in a phone interview, predicted that Mr. Waddington would win but his lead would shrink from 62 to 20 to 25 votes.

Ms. Williams said Town Board candidate Paul Shepherd’s lead over third-place candidate, Republican Will Anderson, might shrink, too, but she said she didn’t not expect a turnaround in the race.

After last Tuesday’s machine count, according to the Board of Elections, Island Unity Party candidate Glenn Waddington was leading in the three-way supervisor’s race by 62 votes, 549 or 43.6 percent, to incumbent Dougherty’s 488 or 38.76 percent, with Republican Bob DeStefano in third place with 221 votes or 17.55 percent.

In the five-way Town Board race for two seats, Mr. Reich, a two-term incumbent, was in the lead with 575 votes or 24.64 percent followed by Local Liberty Party candidate Paul Shepherd with 518 or 22.2 percent (he and Mr. Reich also had Conservative Party backing, as did Glenn Waddington); Republican Will Anderson followed with 453 votes or 19.41 percent. Mr./ Dougherty’s Democratic and Independence Party running-mates Dan Fokine and Ian Weslek followed with 426 and 366 votes, respectively (Mr. Weslek also had the Working Families ballot line, as did Mr. Dougherty).

These are the same numbers reported last week by party runners, who brought unofficial results from the polling center at the school to three party gatherings on Elections Night.