A number of local elections were decided by voters in New York’s North Country Tuesday including a race for mayor that is currently tied.
The race for mayor of Tupper Lake will be decided by absentee ballots later this month. The contentious race between Republican Eric Shaheen and incumbent Paul Maroun began in late July when Shaheen secured the village GOP nomination for mayor over Maroun, who was seeking the Republican endorsement for a fourth term. Maroun opted to run as an independent. Unofficial results Tuesday night show the two candidates in a tie with both receiving 371 votes.
Franklin County Republican Election Commissioner Tracy Sparks says it’s the first tie she’s encountered.
“It’s a tie as of Election Day. But you’ve got to remember we still have the absentee process to do. So while it’s tied today that could change obviously with absentees." Sparks continues, "The process is there’s a 10 day period in which the state will cross check all absentees and affidavits with every Board of Elections within the state, so all 62 counties. Once that part’s complete then we would start the process for absentees. But that is why we cannot open anything before the 15th of the month.”
Sparks says as of Wednesday morning, there are 47 absentee ballots pending for the village of Tupper Lake.
“And that’s not counting the affidavits. You know we could have one. We could have none. We could have twenty. You know we haven’t even gotten to that part yet. So there is the potential where we also have affidavits that we need to research and add to that absentee number.”
Elsewhere, the Clinton County Legislature will be evenly split between Democrats and Republicans when the new panel is sworn in on January 1st. Current Chair Republican Mark Henry says it’s not much of a change nor the first time the body has been evenly split.
“We’ve been 5-5 for the last oh maybe year now. And we are 5-5 again so the legislature has basically stayed where it was. It truly is a bipartisan legislature," says Henry. "I think the last year or so has pointed to that, the accomplishments of this legislature in a bipartisan way. I don’t expect a lot of changes. We have folks that are returning. Legislator Hall’s returning. Legislator Waldron’s returning. Legislator Hughes is also returning. So it will be, I don’t want to say business as usual ‘cause things always change, but we are used to that environment as a legislature.”
The Essex County Board of Supervisors saw several members re-elected and new candidates elected in uncontested races. In North Elba incumbent Republican Jay Rand was defeated by Democrat Derek Doty. Chair and Town of Willsboro Supervisor Republican Shaun Gilliland, who won reelection, says the election brings the biggest change on the board since he was first elected eight years ago.
“We are going to have a new supervisor in Ticonderoga, a new supervisor in Schroon Lake. And Jay that was a hard fought election. It’s gone back to a Democratic seat again. And then of course the real surprise this morning was waking up with North Elba with a clear Democrat win." Gilliland says, "You know one of the things I think that all the races we’re seeing with a couple of exceptions was just that this is an off year, political, I don’t want to call it apathy, but I guess a political exhaustion year. You know our political landscape and the electorate is changing quite a bit. I think a lot of people are not sure where they fall out. So the decisions came down to small town local issues.”
In the city of Plattsburgh, common councilors in Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6 were reelected without opposition.
