Spotlight News: Machine recount yields no change in supervisor race

Machine recount yields no change in supervisor race

Charles Wiff 11/06/09

Supervisor Jack Cunningham and challenger Sam Messina look on as election workers audit lever voting machines in the Town of Bethlehem Friday. Messina leads by 109 votes, according to unofficial results.

A re-canvass of lever voting machines in the Town of Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 6, did not return any change in the race for the position of supervisor. Republican-backed candidate Sam Messina leads incumbent Jack Cunningham by a total of 109 votes, which includes counts from electronic voting machines and paper ballots that have yet be to be re-canvassed.

Eight electronic machines were in place on Election Day in the town, and those results will be audited on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Election workers opened the lever machines and read the results at a Highway Department garage in Delmar. The process took just over an hour as Messina, Cunningham and their supporters looked on.

The race will still hinge on absentee ballots, which will be opened on the morning of Thursday, Nov. 12.

Check back to www.spotlightnews.com or read the Nov. 11 edition of The Spotlight for more on this story.