WESTERLO — When reporting on the near-identical slates endorsed by the Westerlo Democrats and Republicans this year, The Enterprise wrote that the only “nail-biter” this election would be for those who are highly invested in the town justice race, the sole contest among several open positions. 

And, for those residents, the suspense keeps building. Democratic incumbent Ken Mackey is ahead of Republican challenger Stuart Elderd by only two votes, with absentee ballots yet to be counted. Altogether, Mackey has 434 votes to Elderd’s 432. 

Otherwise, the election results show what was already known: Republican Deputy Supervisor Matthew Kryzak will fill out the remaining two years of his predecessor’s term, and Republicans Lorraine Pecylak and Josh Beers will join him at the dais as town board members, replacing Democrat Joe Boone and Republican Richard Filkins, neither of whom sought re-election. 

Kryzak won 806 votes, with 8 write-ins; Pecylak won 763 votes; and Beers won 740. Twelve people wrote in other candidates for town board. 

If he wins, Mackey will go on to his fourth four-year term, having first been elected in 2009. 

A welder by trade, Mackey, 67, said last week that he has a strong track record over his 12 years as justice of “being fair and impartial.”

If Elderd wins, he’ll bring with him experience as a corrections officer as well as a military police officer for the National Guard. 

““This is a good opportunity for me to get to know the community better,” Elderd, 61, told The Enterprise last week. “As far as the person I’m running against, I’ve never been in front of him so I don’t know what he does [that I would do differently]. It’s just something I’m interested in.”