Quick-scan general election results 2017
Updated
Here's a quick scan of results from elections around the Capital Region Tuesday, which included many local municipal races. (Some of these elections were largely decided during the primaries in September.)
This is not a comprehensive list, just some highlights. Numbers are unofficial, and there are bound to be some changes on Wednesday.
On with the results...
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Albany County
+ City of Albany
Saratoga County
+ Saratoga Springs
Schenectady County
+ City of Schenectady
State ballot questions
Many large groups -- including labor unions -- had lined up against a constitutional convention.
This will allow a judge to revoke the public pension of public officers convicted of a felony "that has a direct and actual relationship to the performance of the public officer's existing duties."
Here's an overview of this question, which allows the creation of a 250-acre state forest preserve land bank.
Albany County
+ Albany County Board of Elections unofficial results
Coroners are elected? Here's an explainer about the position.
City of Albany
The main event in the mayoral race was the Democratic primary, of course.
Sheehan's general vote total for this general election was -2,359 compared to the 2013 general election. That's probably attributable to Frank Commisso Jr's continued presence on the ballot after being the runner-up in the primary (though he did not actively campaign). His general election total roughly equals what the 2013 Republican candidate (Jesse Calhoun) got, plus the 2013-to-2017 difference in Sheehan's total.
Also, we'll just mention this again: Albany's mayor gets selected by just a small slice of the city's population.
Susan Rizzo got the most votes of any candidate for city office in this election.
Carolyn McLaughlin is the current council president. She didn't run for re-election so she could run for mayor. (She lost in the Democratic primary.)
Applyrs is the incumbent.
The incumbent here was Vivian Kornegay.
Ron Bailey was the incumbent -- he lost to Love in the Democratic primary.
Kimbrough is the incumbent.
This was the seat that had be held by Mark Robinson, who ran for Common Council president.
Conti is the incumbent.
Fahey is the incumbent.
Flynn is the incumbent.
Doesschate is the incumbent.
Anane beat the incumbent, Leah Golby, in the Democratic primary. There had been a petition urging people to write in Golby's name, which probably explains the unusually large number of write-in votes.
Krasher is the incumbent. This is the race that's been embroiled in the fight over the validity of absentee ballots.
O'Brien is the incumbent.
Farrell will succeed incumbent Daniel Herring, who did not run for re-election.
Igoe is the incumbent.
This was the seat held by Frank Commisso Jr, who ran for mayor.
It's looking like seven of the Common Council's seats will turn over in this election.
Supervisors
The incumbent is John Clarkson, who didn't run for re-election.
Mahan is the incumbent.
Barber is the incumbent.
Rensselaer County
+ Rensselaer County Board of Elections unofficial results
Smyth hasn't conceded, but it's unlikely the 2,586 absentee ballots will close the gap.
Dwyer is the incumbent.
Troy
Mantello is the incumbent, and this race will probably be decided by absentees.
And the big takeaway from the council races below: Democrats will be in the majority on the city council. (Mayor Patrick Madden is also a Democrat.)
Saratoga County
+ Saratoga County Board of Elections unofficial results
DeLucia is the incumbent.
Saratoga Springs
The incumbent, Joanne Yepsen, did not run for re-election. Kelly is her deputy mayor.
Chris Mathiesen, the incumbent, did not run for re-election.
+ Anthony "Skip" Scirocco (R,C,I) ran unopposed for Commissioner of Public Works.
+ John Franck (D,WF,I,REF) ran unopposed for Commissioner of Accounts.
+ Michelle Madigan (D,WF,I,WE) ran unopposed for Commissioner of Finance.
If this holds up -- it's too close to call -- it would switch the city's form of government from a commission to one run by a city manager.
Schenectady County
+ Schenectady County Board of Elections unofficial results
Landry was a 10-year incumbent. Syed is a 34-year-old budget analyst at Albany Med.
Tommasone is the incumbent.
City of Schenectady
All three winners are incumbents.
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Comments
So we now have a common council filled almost entirely with the clueless, the cowardly and the go-alongs. Very few really valuable contributors in that group. In the last we at least had some people who were decent such as Barbara Smith. The victory of the new machine is pretty complete.
So I see Corey Ellis got 1,000 more votes than fake-progressive Sheehan. Is he the next mayor of Albany or what? I bet his campaign started last night.
... said Brian on Nov 8, 2017 at 9:29 AM | link
Here's a frightening little tale -- my ballot jammed the voting machine. There was only one machine in my polling place and none of the 6 people working there had a clue how to fix it. One of them said that yes, there had been training a couple of years ago but she couldn't remember much of it. Someone tried to get somebody on the phone but to no avail.My three friends who were with me all ended up putting their ballots in the "emergency" box and were promised that when the machine was fixed they would be fed through. Another friend voted about an hour later and had to put his ballot in the emergency box as well.
I emailed the Board of Elections as soon as I got home and haven't heard from them yet. The most pressing question for me of course is-did my vote get counted at all? If the ballot jammed, wouldn't it be all crinkled up and unable to go through the machine a second time? I'm pretty sure my ballot was just trashed when --if-- they finally unjammed the machine. Secondly, why was NO ONE at that polling place trained? I hope the Board of Elections takes this seriously and makes some positive changes before the next election.
... said Maria on Nov 8, 2017 at 3:12 PM | link
Maria - poll workers are usually retired people who are there essentially as a community service and aren't (usually) highly skilled or knowledgeable abut, say, election law or voting machines.
I would guess you are correct that your vote wasn't counted though.
... said Brian on Nov 9, 2017 at 12:34 PM | link
Brian is right. The poll workers usually work once a year on Election Day so they aren't likely to know how to fix a jammed voting machine, even if they got a cursory training. More troubling is that nobody answered the phone at the Board of Elections to trouble shoot this problem.
... said chrisck on Nov 9, 2017 at 2:21 PM | link