Hillary takes Ulster as a whole, but some towns love Donald

Hillary Clinton carried Ulster County by about 10 percent over Donald Trump, well behind President Barack Obama in 2012, according to unofficial returns released by the board of elections last week and hand-tabulated by Ulster Publishing. Final returns were held up for almost six weeks due to the counting of some 6,300 absentee ballots cast in the race for county surrogate judge.

Final returns showed Clinton with 44,597 votes (55.2 percent) to Trump’s 35,239. Minor party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein totaled fewer than 2,400 votes. Neither has asked for a recount.

Voting for president was slightly higher this year compared to four years ago when President Obama carried Ulster with 61.6 percent of the vote over Mitt Romney. Clinton tallied about 3,000 less votes than Obama while Trump trumped Romney by almost 6,000.

The Town of Woodstock, heavily Democratic in registration, overwhelmingly voted for Clinton 2860 to 767, nearly an 80 percent to 20 percent margin. That led Ulster County in terms of a majority. Clinton led Trump by heavy majorities in each of its nine districts.

The race was closer in Shandaken, where Clinton garned 55.2 percent (678-551) and the town of Olive (1355-1161) where she won 53.9 percent of the vote.

Clinton also scored heavily in traditional Democratic strongholds like Kingston, Rosendale, Gardiner and New Paltz, while Trump held sway in Republican Marlborough and Shawangunk. Saugerties, the largest town in the county, proved the most competitive with Clinton edging Trump by just 134 votes out of more than 6,000 cast.

Kingston is Democratic territory

Trump did not carry a single district in Kingston’s nine wards, as Clinton ran off to a 5,992-3,555 win. Kingston has more than twice as many enrolled Democrats as Republicans, but independents comprise the largest voting block.

Almost 75 percent of votes cast in Democratic New Paltz went to Clinton, including a 1,050-187 majority in District 9 on the campus of SUNY New Paltz.

Hurley, without a Democrat on its town board, gave 55 percent of its votes to Clinton.

At just under 60 percent, Gardiner came in handily for Clinton. Rosendale was just behind at 58.2 percent.

Marlborough’s heavy Republican enrollment produced a 62 percent win for Trump, while Shawangunk backed the GOP nominee with 67 percent.

Overall, Democrats held a 14,000 vote enrollment advantage over Republicans in this year’s election. Women outnumber men by about 12 percent.