Almost two weeks after Election Day, the Westchester County Board of Elections has finished counting the nearly 800 absentee ballots in Harrison. Republican candidate Rich Dionisio will remain the winner of the race for town councilman, but the additional ballots brought an even tighter margin to an already close race.
The county Board of Elections, BOE, counted 10,030 Election Day votes, ruling unofficially in favor of Dionisio over his Democratic opponent, Chris Rodier, by 136 votes.
According to BOE Commissioner Reginald Lafayette, the most recent unofficial vote count, which included the absentee ballots, makes Dionisio the winner by just 83 votes. By that count, the election was decided by less than 1 percent margin. Dionisio captured 5,203 votes—48 percent of the electorate—to Rodier’s 5,120—47.3 percent.
Incumbent Councilman Joe Stout, a Democrat, whose seat was in play also ran in the general election on the Conservative line—although he did not actively campaign after losing a Democratic primary to Rodier—got 4.6 percent of the vote, about 500 votes overall, including absentee ballots.
Dionisio said he was initially concerned that his victory could be at stake due to the quantity of absentee ballots.
“It pretty much went the way of the whole election,” he told the Review on Tuesday. He added that he was relieved to have an answer, regardless of how close the margin was.
A post on Rodier’s campaign Facebook page said he was equally disappointed to lose the race but heartened that it was so closely contested.
