Politics & Government

Trailing By 118 Votes in Rye Town Council Race, Sullivan Waits for Absentee Ballots

Democrat Gary Sullivan trails Republican Robert Nioras by 118 votes in the race for a spot on the Rye Town Council.

As he waits for the results of absentee ballots and a pair of voting machines placed into lockdown, Rye Town council candidate Gary Sullivan said he wants one thing to be clear.

"I don't want to be the Al Gore of Port Chester politics," he said. "I'm not looking to drag this out. If it becomes impossible for me to win, I'll happily concede."

Rye Town Republicans declared a sweep on Tuesday night, with victories in the : Incumbent Joseph Carvin earned another term as supervisor, and newcomer Christina Collins of Port Chester led all council candidates with 2,584 votes, according to unofficial tallies from the Board of Elections.

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

With two seats open, Collins is guaranteed a spot on the council. But 118 votes separate Sullivan from Republican Robert Nioras for the second seat.

Problems with optical voting machines were widespread in Westchester County on election night, with anecdotal reports of break-downs, errors and a lack of technicians to tackle those problems. Those technical difficulties resulted in delays on the part of the Board of Elections, and machines were impounded amid legal challenges in other races.

Find out what's happening in Port Chesterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Two of the machines in lockdown are from districts in Port Chester, and absentee ballots haven't been counted yet. Sullivan said he wants to make sure every vote is counted.

"It could be any number of votes, and [the locked machines] were both in districts I did very well in," he said. "It may not be likely, but it's certainly not mathematically impossible."

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