Smith, Skowfoe and Bleau Victorious in Supervisor Races; Conesville Still Without Highway Superintendent

The Schoharie County Board of Elections convened yesterday morning for almost four hours to count hundreds of leftover absentee, affidavit and military ballots in all sixteen towns from November fifth's off-year election. Voters in the Towns of Blenheim, Fulton and Wright finally learned who they elected as their respective Town Supervisor, while the final results in Conesville left residents still without an elected Highway Superintendent heading into the new year.

Blenheim
 

One of the three too close to call Town Supervisor races was decided just five minutes into this morning's count, with Democratic challenger Sean Smith winning seven of nine absentee ballots and Blenheim's top job over twenty-year incumbent Republican Robert Mann Jr. Mr. Smith received plenty of well wishes and support from members of the county board and other officials in attendance.
 

Conesville
 

The biggest surprise of the morning came from the Town of Conesville's Highway Superintendent election between Stephen Young and Larry Brandow, with Mr. Young heading into the day with what was thought a safe eleven vote lead with twenty-nine ballots yet to be opened. However, as luck would have it, Mr. Brandow carried the absentee and affidavit count overwhelmingly by a decisive 20-9 spread, which resulted in the two candidates ending the day with 154 votes apiece. 

Fulton

 

Entering the morning not knowing whether he would retain his position as Town Supervisor in Fulton, let alone the Chairmanship of the county board, incumbent Democrat Phil Skowfoe nervously paced back and forth across the Board of Supervisors chambers as he and his Republican challenger Francis Tatten awaited the results of their highly competitive race, of which the difference was only two votes in the incumbent's favor. With twenty-seven ballots to count Mr. Skowfoe needed only thirteen of them to claim victory, instead he received sixteen and a narrow seven vote victory to boot.

Wright
 

Roughly two dozen observers waited out the remaining eight towns to hear who would win Wright's contest between Democrat Karl Remmers and Republican Amber Bleau, where the Democrat held a three vote lead on election night with forty-five ballots left to count. As anticipation built amongst the audience, the machine decided not to work - delaying the final process for almost five excruciatingly long minutes - which was followed by the Deputy on patrol accidentally turning off the room's lights, adding to the anxiety of everyone in attendance. But after all was said and done, Ms. Bleau carried the absentee and affidavit ballots 26-18 over Mr. Remmers, winning the election by five votes and finally ending the Town of Wright's ten month long lack of representation on the county board.