Ulster County primary election results from Tuesday are in -- and in a few of the hottest races, incumbents kept their party lines against challengers.
In Woodstock, where challengers Lorin Rose and Terrie Rosenblum sought to unseat incumbent Jeremy Wilber as the Democratic nominee for town supervisor, Wilber won a decisive victory, earning 296 votes to Rose's 207 and Rosenblum's 93. In the race for two Democratic slots for town council, incumbents also held the day: Town council members Cathy Margelli and Bill McKenna were the top vote-getters, with 376 and 355 votes, while challenger Gary Kutcher earned 258.
Ulster County legislative chair Terry Bernardo, a Republican representing District 21, also held onto her party line against a challenger: John Dawson, who was endorsed by the county Republican Committee after a spat between Bernardo and a prominent fellow Republican. Bernardo got 275 votes; Dawson got 65. With the loss of the Republican primary, Dawson has lost his chance to appear on the November ballot.
Six Independence Party primaries were held in Ulster County legislative districts, in which voters had the chance to choose between the candidate on the ballot or a write-in. In most of the races, the named candidate prevailed, but in two races, write-ins got more votes: District 2, where challenger Chris Allen bested sitting legislator Robert Aiello 35 to 31, and District 16, where write-in Tracey Bartels beat Frank "Lenny" Zapka 21 to 16. All four candidates have ballot lines, and will meet again in the November elections.
The Independence Party also held primaries in thre Ulster County towns -- Gardiner, Saugerties, Wawarsing -- and the village of Ellenville, where an opportunity to write in candidates for village trustee attracted only two voters to the polls.
In Gardiner, Independence nominee Richard Koenig staved off a write-in campaign by sitting supervisor Carl Zatz, a Democrat. Koenig got 21 votes to Zatz's 11.
The Saugerties Independence primary had contests for nominations in several races: town supervisor, town council, highway superintendent and town justice. In all races, candidates on the ballot prevailed against write-ins. Supervisor candidate Gregory Helsmoortel won the primary race resoundingly against write-in challenges by sitting town supervisor Kelly Myers and several other candidates: Helsmoortel got 109 votes, Myers 19, Terry Myers 9, Gaetana Ciarlante 8 and Ellen Myers 1.
In Wawarsing, a write-in campaign by former supervisor Leonard Distel prevailed against current supervisor Scott Carlsen for the Independence line in the town supervisor's race; Distel got 26 votes to Carlsen's 20. The two candidates faced each other in the 2011 election, when Carlsen beat the incumbent Distel in a squeaker of a race. Independence voters also weighed in on three other races: town tax collector, town council and highway superintendent.
All results are still unofficial, and absentee ballots have not yet been counted; some races are close enough that absentee ballot count could alter the results. For full Ulster County election results, including Common Council races in several wards of the city of Kingston, see the Ulster County Board of Elections website.
