Ex-Legislator Chris Allen wins 2 lines on fall ballot
KINGSTON, N.Y. >> Former Ulster County Legislator Chris Allen has eked out write-in victories for two minor-party lines, guaranteeing him a spot on the November ballot in the race for the Legislature’s District 2 (Saugerties) seat even though he lost his bid for Democratic line.
Allen, who was tapped as the Democratic candidate by the county Democratic Committee, lost that party’s line to Saugerties Town Board member John Schoonmaker, 156-144, in the June 25 primary, according to official election results certified by the county Board of Elections.
But in a write-in bid for the Working Families line, Allen defeated Schoonmaker, who was that party’s pick, by a write-in tally of 6-1.
Likewise, Allen defeated Republican Albert Bruno in a write-in race for the Independence Party line. Allen tallied 34 ballots to the 24 votes cast for Bruno, the Independence Party pick for the line. Legislators Mary Wawro and Joseph Maloney each received one write-in vote in that race. (Wawro, the District 1 legislator, is ineligible to run in the District 2 race; and Maloney, the current District 2 legislator, is not seeking reelection.)
Allen was not the only candidate to score an upset victory in the primaries over a candidate chosen by a political party.
In District 8 (Esopus), write-in candidate Lorrie Morse defeated party pick and incumbent Legislator Laura Petit 37-12 for the Independence Party line. Petit did secure the Green Party line with eight write-in votes.
And in District 18 (Hurley, Marbletown), Legislator Heidi Haynes tallied eight write-in votes in the race for the Working Families line, defeating Working Families candidate Carolyn E. Hansen, who drew four votes.
In other Legislature primaries, according to the certified results:
• In District 1 (Saugerties), incumbent Mary Wawro fended off a writein challenge from Aaron Levine for the Independence line, 31-29.
Levine did capture the Green Party line, tallying two write-in votes to the one each cast for Nicole Roskos and Paul Andreassen.
• In District 11 (Marlborough), Thomas Corcoran retained the Independence Party line on the November ballot tallying 47 votes to 13 write-in ballots cast for Mici Simonosky.
• In District 12 (Plattekill), incumbent Kevin Roberts secured the Green Party line with seven write-in votes.
• In District 22 (Denning, Hardenburgh, Olive, Shandaken), incumbent Kathy Nolan widened her victory over former Legislator John Parete for the Democratic line, 543-115. Likewise, Nolan, D-Shandaken, maintained her spot on the Green Party line with a 2-1 victory over Parete.