Hand counting is officially done in Onondaga County, solidifying the results of six contentious races.
In Solvay, incumbent Republican Derek Baichi defeated his Democratic opponent, Deborah DeGilio, by just 13 votes.
Back in October, Baichi was stripped of his check-writing powers after two village trustees alleged that he wrote checks from the Solvay Electric Fund without proper authorization. Prior to this, DeGilio said she decided to run to end the “turmoil” surrounding his leadership.
In Spafford, Democrat John T. Ryan and Republican Geoffrey Barron will be the next town councilors with Barron winning his seat by just seven votes.
The village of Camillus had two trustee seats up for grabs, one of which will be filled by Martin Rinaldo. The other seat was decided by 91 write-in votes divided almost equally by Mark Eckert and Patricia Butler Rhodes. Eckert beat Rhodes by just seven votes.
Also, hand-counted in the village of Camillus was the local proposition to ban marijuana dispensaries within village limits. While the proposition originally failed by four votes after the early voting recount, that decision was flipped and it has now passed in a 129-125 vote.
Two other local propositions to ban marijuana dispensaries went to a hand count after being too close to call. The proposition in the town of Geddes failed by 11 votes and it also failed in Tully by just four votes.
“When people ask me next year whether their vote counts, these are the races I will point to,” said Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny in a tweet on Monday. “Your vote matters!”
