Update (10:30 a.m., July 1): The final tallies for each race have been made official by the Tompkins County Board of Elections. They are as follows:
Tompkins County Legislature, District 1
- Travis Brooks……….396 votes
- Nicole LaFave……….362 votes
Tompkins County Legislature, District 2
- Veronica Pillar………309 votes
- Leslie Schill………271 votes
Tompkins County Legislature, District 8
- Vanessa Greenlee……….253 votes
- Robert Lynch………76 votes
Tompkins County Legislature, District 13
- Greg Mezey…………151 votes
- Samantha Lushtak…………130 votes
City of Ithaca Common Council, Ward 1
- Cynthia Brock……….339 votes
- Yasmin Rashid………41 votes
- Shaniya Foster………40 votes
City of Ithaca Common Council, Ward 5
- Robert Cantelmo…………326 votes
- Marty Hiller…………230 votes
Danby Highway Superintendent
- Keith Shipman………252 votes
- Anthony Wells……….154 votes
Danby Town Council (Vote 2)
- H. Katharine Hunter……….310 votes
- Pat Woodworth…………268 votes
- Ted Crane…………196 votes
Groton Highway Superintendent
- Ellard Keister………..197 votes
- Kenneth Carr…………74 votes
Update 12:43 p.m., June 23: The number of absentee ballots received and issued for each race, as of June 23, is now included in this story. These totals were provided by the Tompkins County Board of Elections.
Original Story:
TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y.—Preliminary results are now available for the myriad primary elections held in Tompkins County on June 22, showing very close margins so far that are reflective of the competitive campaigns run over the last several months.
These results are not final, and more votes will have to be counted over the next several days, as the final deadline for postmarking absentee ballots was today, meaning the Board of Elections will have to wait until early next week to start their count. You can see the results page here. It’s unclear exactly how many total absentee ballots there are to count.
According to the Board of Elections, the results are as follows:
Tompkins County Legislator, District 1 (Democratic primary)
- Travis Brooks…………….51.61 percent (369 votes)
- Nicole LaFave……………47.97 percent (343 votes)
According to Steve Dewitt, one of the county’s election commissioners, the above race will certainly depend on the results of absentee ballots, as the number of absentee ballots to be counted exceed the margin between the two candidates. There were three write-in votes and 715 total votes cast. As of June 23, there have been 36 absentee ballots returned of the 121 that were issued.
Tompkins County Legislator, District 2 (Democratic primary)
- Veronica Pillar……………52.72 percent (291 votes)
- Leslie Schill (incumbent)……………47.10 percent (260 votes)
There was one write-in vote and 552 total votes cast. Schill won the special election between the two earlier this year by an extremely small margin to temporarily replace Anna Kelles, who was elected to the New York State Assembly. The next few days of absentee ballot returns could decide if this race is at risk of flipping or not: with a 31 vote margin in favor of Pillar, there have been 22 absentee ballots returned of the 65 that were issued.
Tompkins County Legislator, District 8 (Democratic primary)
- Vanessa Greenlee……………77.49 percent (241 votes)
- Robert Lynch……………22.19 percent (69 votes)
There was one write-in vote, and 311 votes cast in total. There were 52 absentee ballots issued and, as of June 23, 19 had been returned to the Board of Elections. Even if all are returned and, miraculously, all were Lynch’s votes, the number would not be large enough to make up Lynch’s deficit.
Tompkins County Legislator, District 13 (Democratic primary)
- Greg Mezey……………54.98 percent (149 votes)
- Samantha Lushtak……………45.02 percent (122 votes)
There were no write-in votes, and there were 271 total votes cast. With a margin of 27 votes currently, there have been 10 absentee ballots returned of the 51 that were issued.
City of Ithaca Alderperson, Ward 1 (Democratic primary)
- Cynthia Brock (incumbent)……………80.43 percent (226 votes)
- Shaniya Foster……………9.61 percent (27 votes)
- Yasmin Rashid……………9.61 percent (27 votes)
There was one write-in vote and 281 total votes cast. The number of absentee ballots issued wouldn’t be enough for either Foster or Rashid, both of whom have dropped out anyway, to catch Brock.
City of Ithaca Alderperson, Ward 5 (Democratic primary)
- Robert Cantelmo…………….59.59 percent (317 votes)
- Marty Hiller……………39.47 percent (210 votes)
There were five write-in votes and 532 total votes. In the Fifth Ward race, there are also not enough absentee ballots for Hiller to overtake Cantelmo.
Town of Danby Highway Superintendent (Democratic primary)
- Keith Shipman……………62.66 percent (245 votes)
- Anthony Wells……………37.34 percent (146 votes)
There were 391 votes cast, and no write-in votes.
Town of Danby Town Councilperson (Democratic primary—Vote for 2)
- H. Katharine Hunter……………40.32 percent (300 votes)
- Pat Woodworth……………34.41 percent (256 votes)
- Ted Crane……………24.87 percent (185 votes)
There were 744 votes cast total, though voters were obviously encouraged to vote for two candidates. There were three write-in votes.
Town of Groton Highway Superintendent (Republican primary)
- Ellard D. Keister……………71.86 percent (189 votes)
- Kenneth Carr……………27.76 percent (73 votes)
There was one write-in vote cast, and 263 votes total. There were not enough absentee ballots issued for Carr to overtake Keister, according to the Board of Elections.