The unofficial but deciding results of hand vote counts by the Niagara County Board of Elections on Wednesday confirmed the city’s leading alderman candidates as the winners of their races.
Incumbent 1st Ward Alderman John Craig, a Republican, retained his seat with 234 votes, with Democratic challenger Sterling Carroll securing 217. Craig gained a vote in the recount, while Carroll added three more.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to serve,” Craig said. “Campaigning has been hard since the pandemic. People are reluctant to come to the door.”
Republican Roland O’Malley won the 3rd Ward alderman’s race with 241 votes against opponent Joseph DiPasquale of the Working Families Party, with 235. The recount found an additional three votes for both men.
O’Malley and DiPasquale could not be reached for comment.
Hand counts were conducted on Wednesday because each race was separated by fewer than 20 votes.
Republican election commissioner Jennifer Sandonato said the hand recount included all scanned, unscannable, early voting, and absentee ballots. Sandonato said some candidates were present, but there was little reaction.
“Basically, it reinforces the integrity of our elections in New York State,” said Anita Mullane, 1st vice chair of Niagara Democrats. “The hand count basically matched what was in the polls. We’ve gone through an era when people didn’t have faith in our elections. Our elections are secure and safe and the public chose who they wanted in office. I thank all those who ran.”
Carroll said he’s seeing a change in the community, with people expressing more caring.
“I think I gave a lot of hope to people to go out and vote, and be seen, and make some noise,” he said. “We have to move forward and push people in the city office.”
The recount was done by two bipartisan teams of two, Sandonato said, with a person reading the result and the other party watching the reading. The other team recorded the result with the opposite party observing the record. The 3rd Ward results took two hours to count, she said, with the 1st Ward taking an hour and a half.
Sandonato said the election results must be certified by state law by Dec. 1.