Pope, Schiavoni score wins for Dems

Southampton Town Democrats posted stunning victories on Tuesday, with Sally Pope snatching a Town Board seat away from Republican Dan Russo, and Andrea Schiavoni upsetting veteran Town Justice Thomas DeMayo to capture a seat on the Town Justice Court.

On Tuesday night, after preliminary results were reported by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, the Republican candidates said the races remained too close to call, and both Mr. Russo and Mr. DeMayo declined to concede until absentee ballots have been counted on Wednesday, November 12. But with nearly 2,400 absentee ballots yet to be counted, the town justice race appears settled: The Suffolk County Board of Elections lists Ms. Schiavoni leading Mr. DeMayo by a margin of 2,822 votes, 12,263 to 9,441, or a margin of 56.5 percent to 43.5 percent.

In the race for Southampton Town Board, Ms. Pope had a smaller lead of 740 votes, 11,056-10,316, tallying 51.7 percent to Mr. Russo’s 48.2 percent.

As of Wednesday morning, the Board of Elections reported a total of 2,391 absentee ballots uncounted, with 806 of those Democrat, 872 Republicans, 104 Independence, 28 Conservative, 4 Working Families, and 577 blank.

“The absentee ballots tend to mirror election night,” Town Democratic Chairman Mike Anthony noted. The final number of absentee ballots could be higher because the deadline for their receipt is November 12, with a November 17 deadline for military ballots. To be valid, absentee ballots must be postmarked by November 3.

Southampton Town Supervisor Linda Kabot, a Republican, expressed confidence that Mr. Russo would ultimately defeat Ms. Pope. Ms. Kabot admitted she did not expect the absentee ballots to deliver Justice DeMayo a victory over Ms. Schiavoni.

“I’m forever amazed and encouraged by the peaceful transitions of power within our towns and states and country,” Ms. Schiavoni said. “And I’m looking forward to doing my best for the people of Southampton.”

If Ms. Pope does win enough absentee ballots to keep her lead over Mr. Russo, she would become the second non-Republican on the Town Board. Nevertheless, Mr. Russo remained confident on Tuesday night. “This is not over,” he told the GOP faithful at an election night party at Villa Tuscano in Hampton Bays shortly after the polls closed on Tuesday. “I expect to win.”

The sole non-Republican on the Town Board, Democrat Anna Throne-Holst, said she was prepared to work with Ms. Pope if the results held, but added she would also miss the working relationship she had forged with Mr. Russo. “I will do everything I can to help Sally and I look forward to a strong and purposeful partnership should she prevail,” Ms. Throne-Holst said. “But, this town owes Dan a great debt of gratitude for the efforts and accomplishments he has made as a member of this Town Board in a short period of time. I commend him for his many contributions and for being such a devoted public servant.”

On Tuesday, Justice DeMayo said he “would wait and see what happens” as the outstanding ballots are counted. “We can’t concede,” said Helen Lawrence Wintermyer, Justice DeMayo’s campaign manager.

Ms. Schiavoni, who ran an unsuccessful bid for town justice last year, said she was too overwhelmed with emotion to put how she felt into words.

Ms. Pope said she was in Hampton Bays earlier in the day and that many people told her she was going to win. “I don’t know how they knew, but they did,” Ms. Pope said. “Now it’s time to get down to work and be the board member the voters expect me to be.”

Mr. Anthony credited a “great team” on the ground with the win. “Obama helped, but our candidates worked real hard and ran a great campaign,” he said. Townwide, nearly 68 percent of registered voters voted for president, and nearly 60 percent of registered voters cast their ballots in local races.

According to the BOE, 8,592 more votes were cast this year in Southampton Town than in 2007. Though the high voter turnout has been tied to the coattails of President-Elect Barack Obama, voter turnout was actually less than in 2004: 27,452 votes were cast by Southampton voters for president that year, while 25,172 were cast this year. In the 2004 presidential contest, Senator John Kerry beat President George W. Bush 53 percent to 46 percent locally; this year, Senator Obama defeated his GOP challenger, Senator John McCain, 55 percent to 43 percent.

In the 2007 race for Southampton Town supervisor, only 13,849 votes were cast out of 35,304 registered, with Ms. Kabot winning by less than 1 percent, or 53 votes.

According to local Democratic activist Lisa Votino-Tarrant, turnout on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation was at an all-time high of 80 percent.

Around 10:30 on Tuesday night, at the Southampton GOP election night party, Southampton Republican Committee Chairman Marcus Stinchi took the microphone to announce that the local Republicans were “caught in the crossfire of Barack Obama.” Mr. Stinchi was accounting for the fact that early returns did not bode well for Justice DeMayo or Mr. Russo.

Additional reporting for this story was done by Brendan O’Reilly.