NEW SCOTLAND – Both Republicans and Democrats will be represented on the Conservative Party line in the town’s November general election.

Candidates who had been endorsed by the party secured spots on the Conservative Party line, according to unofficial results reported to The Enterprise by Democratic candidate for town supervisor, Thomas Dolin, from the board of elections counts on Wednesday afternoon.

Dolin lost his write-in campaign to Republican candidate Douglas LaGrange, who received 45 votes to Dolin’s 31.
"It was a challenge to wage a write-in campaign," Dolin said, adding that he is thankful to those who supported him. "I feel confident that I can build upon their support and be successful in November," he said.
"It’s a nice showing," LaGrange told The Enterprise yesterday. At least with the supervisor’s race, when "true Conservatives" head to the polls in November, they will be voting for someone that represents them, LaGrange said.
"It’s sadly amusing" the politics of the primary," he said, referring to the Conservative Party’s large enrollment of family members of Democrats.

In 2005, The Enterprise reported that more than half of the signers of a petition requesting the opportunity to ballot for town council and supervisor for the Conservative Party primary, were relatives of candidates running on the Democratic ticket or relatives of individuals already serving an elected position in town as a Democrat.
The general election is coming, LaGrange said. "There’s a good month for people to see who the candidates are and what they’re running on."
"This doesn’t mean a lot," said LaGrange. "It’s what we say and do and show before the general election" that matters.

The Republican slate is running on a platform emphasizing economic development, planning for the future, and making Town Hall more accessible to the public, LaGrange told The Enterprise earlier.

The town’s Democratic Party chairman, L. Michael Mackey, told The Enterprise earlier that the Democratic candidates are committed to seeing that the town gets development that fits in with the existing character. The candidates "really want to encourage light industrial and commercial development," he said, adding that this type of expansion tends to ease taxes.

"Close races"

According to figures provided by the Albany County Board of Elections, New Scotland is divided roughly into thirds — 35 percent of registered voters are enrolled as Democrats, 29 percent are enrolled as Republicans, and nearly 36 percent of voters are not enrolled in a party. Less than 1 percent of New Scotland voters are enrolled in one of the small parties.

Because more than one-third of New Scotland voters have no large-party affiliation, the small parties are an important factor in the outcome of an election.

A total of 18 or 19 absentee ballots for the Conservative Party will be counted in the next week, and could have a significant impact on the results, Dolin said. Three or four Conservative ballots are being challenged, due to extraneous markings, and could possibly go to court, he added.
"There were some close races," Dolin said.

In the race for two open seats on the town board, Deborah Baron, a Democrat, Charles Voss, a Republican, and Gary Schultz, an enrolled Conservative running on the Republican ticket, were all endorsed by the Conservative Party.

The unofficial count shows Baron received 46 votes, Schultz had 39, Voss had 35, and Democratic candidate Richard Reilly, who was waging a write-in campaign, had 28 votes. If those numbers hold, after the absentee ballots are counted, Baron and Schultz will appear on the Conservative line in the Nov. 6 election.

Diane Deschenes, a Democrat seeking re-election as town clerk, secured the Conservative Party line in her race with 65 votes to Republican candidate Penny Barone’s 16.

In the race for two town justice positions, four candidates vied for both the Conservative and the Independence Party lines.

The two Republican candidates are incumbent Margaret Adkins, and newcomer John Keenan III. Brendan O’Shea and incumbent David Wukitsch will be running for judge as Democrats.

The town board appointed Wukitsch in May after Dolin’s late-March resignation to make a run at supervisor.

Candidates running for judge collect signatures and submit a petition; they don’t need the permission of the party, and therefore, the names of all the candidates appeared on the primary election ballots.

In the Conservative Party primary, Adkins received 42 votes, Wukitsch and O’Shea each garnered 39 votes, and Keenan had 35.

In the Independence Party Primary, Wukitsch received 42 votes, O’Shea had 33, Adkins had 24, and Keenan had 10.