Absentee Ballots Will Decide Southampton Council Race

With all election districts reporting in Southampton Town, Stan Glinka, R-Hampton Bays, and Brad Bender, I-Northampton, have the lead in the Town Council race, but there are more than 1,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted, so it can still be anyone’s game.

Glinka has 5,857 votes tallied so far and Bender 5,746.  Jeffrey Mansfield, R-Bridgehampton, is not far behind with 5,603, and Frank Zappone, D-Shinnecock Hills, has 5,445.

Southampton Town Democratic Committee Chairman Gordon Herr said that 1,314 absentee ballots were sent out to voters, and 879 of them were received by the Suffolk County Board of Elections by Election Day. Many of the other 435 still outstanding will continue to trickle in and will be counted as long as they were post-marked by Election Day, he said, so the counting of absentee ballots likely will not begin until after November 12.

Herr said he is confident that Bender will finish in the top two after absentee ballots are counted and win a seat on the Town Board. Two years ago, Bender finished third in a four-way race for two seats.

On Tuesday night, Glinka was confident in his victory. He said he was humbled. “It means a lot to me.”

Southampton Republican Committee Chairman William Wright said Glinka’s lead will hold and he believes that enough absentee ballots will break for Mansfield to win him a seat too.