Over two weeks beyond election day, most of the absentee ballots from Orangetown were counted Wednesday, but 1,244 absentees from Clarkstown still had not been opened.
The closest vote in Clarkstown is for Highway Superintendent. The unofficial count on election night had Republican incumbent Wayne Ballard with 9,992 votes to Democratic Challenger Denis Mallone's 9,730.
The one contested race in Orangetown, Supervisor, got even closer Wednesday. According to the unofficial results Nov. 5, Republican challenger Walter Wettje had a 36-vote lead with 5,948 to Democratic incumbent Andy Stewart's 5,912. With all but 54 absentee ballots counted Wednesday, the gap is now 18.
In between, the counting was delayed by an impound order until Nov. 14. Once the impound was lifted, the Orangetown Candidates spent three days with the Board of Elections going through the existing ballots before opening the absentees Wednesday.
The remaining 54 ballots are held up because Rockland County Elections Commissioners Louis Babcock and Kristen Stavisky were split on if they should be discarded or counted. Those are expected to go to court by Monday and other votes that have been counted could also be challenged in court.
Wettje, who has not run for office before, remained confident that he would be declared the winner once the final votes are counted and all legal challenges are exhausted.
"Somebody told me this might be worse than Bush-Gore," Wettje said. "Right now I'm up 18. We did the absentee ballots and I came out really good. I didn't lose much. To be still holding the lead is incredible.
"Like the campaign, I have a great team. This will come down to the end. We will see who hits the last shot. It has been a long, grueling (process)."
Both candidates have expressed frustration with the process, but said the most important thing is that every person who voted have their vote counted.
"After today’s count of several hundred absentee ballots, the difference between my opponent and me has been cut in half and now stands at only 18 votes out of over 12,000 cast," Stewart said through a release issued Wednesday afternoon. "There are 54 ballots (three times the current margin) that were challenged during the review process and so have still not been counted yet. These ballots could be the subject of litigation by either side. So at this point, the election remains too close to call with certainty. I remain committed to ensuring that every legitimate vote does get counted."
Read more of the coverage of the process since election day in these reports on Patch.
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