CARMEL – Democratic candidate for Putnam County Executive Brett Yarris has refused to concede to incumbent Kevin Byrne despite the Board of Elections tabulation indicating Byrne received 20,145 votes or 47.99 percent compared to Yarris with 19,550 votes or 46.57 percent and Conservative candidate Tatiana Brahimi with 2,271 votes or 5.41 percent, an apparent 595 vote victory.
On Wednesday, Yarris said, “The outstanding mail-in ballots alone number over twice that margin. On top of those, an unknown number of affidavit ballots still have to be counted, and more mail-in ballots need curing before they can count.”
Yarris said that “Every voter has the right to have their vote counted, and every one of these ballots has to be counted the same way as the votes counted on Election Night. We owe it to every voter to wait for a full and accurate count. When we know more, a final determination will be made in this race, and we expect the margin could close enough to trigger a recount.”
Elections Commissioner Cathy Croft told Mid-Hudson News on Wednesday that of the 4,669 absentee ballots requested, 3,505 have been counted leaving 1,164 outstanding.
She also said staff will be “opening and scanning mail ballots daily; affidavits need to be crossed checked with NYSBOE voter lists this weekend and affidavits that are to be counted will take place next week.”
“To everyone who knocked on a door, made a call, or cast a ballot: thank you. Putnam showed up,” Yarris said. “Now let’s make sure every vote is counted.”
Meanwhile, Bryne admitted the contest was a nailbiter. “We were watching the numbers come in… it was close. Too close. I decided to go home and read Dr. Seuss’ ‘1 vote 2 votes, I vote, you vote.’ After that I decided to go out and meet up with some supporters. Every vote matters. Thank you, Putnam County. It’s been an honor serving you for four years, and I’m excited to serve you for another four,” he said.
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