According to unofficial primary results for the Town of Gardiner, as reported by the Ulster County Board of Elections after the polls closed on Tuesday night, both of the candidates endorsed by the Gardiner Democratic Party will be on the November ballot for two Town Board seats opening up at the end of 2021.
With 155 votes, 30.27 percent of the total 512 cast, incumbent councilman Warren Wiegand holds onto the ballot line for his seat. Planning Board member Carol Richman received the highest number of votes, 222 or 43.36 percent, and is thus poised to claim the seat to be vacated by incumbent David Dukler at the end of the year.
Running in third place was political neophyte Todd Baker, who has emerged over the past two years as a spokesperson for short-term rental owners in Gardiner who oppose the town’s proposed zoning regulations for such facilities. Baker received 133 votes, or 25.98 percent. There were also two write-in votes.
These results do not include absentee ballots, which the Board of Elections has seven to ten days to count. According to Gardiner Democratic Party chair Tom Kruglinski, 54 absentee ballots were mailed out to Gardiner residents, of which 22 had been returned as of Primary Day. That means that 32 potential votes remain uncounted: enough to tip the nomination in Baker’s favor, if most of them were to fall into his column.
Hudson Valley One will update these figures when the Board of Elections posts official vote totals.