Greg Helsmoortel said often a town will turn away from a long-time incumbent, only to bring him back in the next election after realizing “the grass isn’t greener.”
That’s one way to look at the results in Saugerties, where he ended up on top in a three-way race with incumbent Kelly Myers and challenger Gaetana Ciarlante.
According to unofficial results from the county Board of Elections, Helsmoortel received 42%, Myers 35% and Ciarlante 23%
The other way, of course, would be that the race was Helsmoortel’s to lose when Ciarlante decided to stay in after losing the GOP nomination in June. Assuming every vote for Ciarlante would have gone to Myers – which is a big assumption – Myers would have won 58% to 42%- the exact same margin as 2011.
The unofficial tallies, which do not include absentee ballots, are Helsmoortel (2,249), Myers (1,869) and Ciarlante (1,188).
That’s a total of 5,297. Board of Elections reports 300 absentee ballots received as of Nov. 4, and that number could increase. So turnout will be at least 10 percent higher this year than in 2011. Increased turnout was expected due to a high level of interest in the highway superintendent race and three-way supervisor race.
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