CHATHAM–It was a quiet week in Columbia County, where elections were held in the four villages and incumbents were the only candidates on the ballot in all but one community
There were opportunities for write-ins in all communities and in at least two of the four villages there were a small number of last-minute candidates. That did not change the outcome, with incumbents and a ballot-qualified candidate winning in all cases. In Chatham one write-in candidate won.
The county Board of Elections manages Village of Chatham elections. Each of the other three villages in the county, Kinderhook, Philmont and Valatie, manages its own elections.
Chatham
Chatham Mayor Tom Curran received the most votes, 107, according to figures on the Columbia County Board of Elections website, https://sites.google.com/a/columbiacountyny.com/elections/. He will serve another two-year term. There was one write-in vote cast.
Trustees Jay Rippel, 101 votes, and Michael Wallowitz, 100 votes, were also reelected to two-year terms. Each had one write-in opponent but the names were not immediately available.
The village also had a vacancy but no candidate on the ballot for village justice, a four-year term. Write-in candidate Walter Simonsmeier won that election with 42 votes. He campaigned in the last few days before the election with the mayor.
There were five other write-in candidates, led by Daniel Brackett with five votes. The others–Wayne Coe, Bill Hogencamp, Mitchell Khosrova and “Labinsky” (no first name given)–each received one vote.
Valatie
The three incumbents running in the Village Valatie were all reelected without opposition.
Mayor Diane Argyle received 43 votes. Trustee Frank Bevens received 42 votes and Trustee Larry Eleby had 45 votes.
A total of 48 votes were cast, according to Valatie Village Clerk Barbara Fischer.
There were no write-ins.
Kinderhook
Two seats on the Kinderhook Village Board were up for election and both the candidates on the ballot were elected. Incumbent Dale Leiser received 52 votes and David Flaherty received 51. There were two write-ins, Beth Rudolph and Jim Fleming. Each had one vote.
Philmont
The posts of mayor and two trustees were on the ballot in Philmont. All were reelected to two-year terms: Mayor Clarence “Skip” Speed, and Trustees Douglas Cropper and Larry Ostrander.