Politics & Government

Library Tax Hikes Pass; Town Justice Primary Results Hung Up

Problems with voting machines and computer tallying delay results of local voting.

The director of Floyd Memorial Library in Greenport was the only one to see results immediately following the closing of polls on Tuesday night.

Lisa Richland said shortly after 8:30 p.m. that residents of Greenport and Orient voted overwhelmingly to pass a proposed tax hike of 1.6 percent to support the village library’s $821,449 operating budget for the coming year — 227 yes vs. 45 no, collectively.

But the favorable results from voters on Cutchogue New Suffolk Free Library’s proposed 3.85 spending increase for its $1.45 million budget for the coming year could not be determined until Wednesday morning due to problems with a voting machine, said library director Neely McCahey.

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“We had to open the back of the machine up to count the votes,” she said. “Someone from the board of elections had to walk the district clerk through the process this morning. This is the first time this has happened.”

The budget passed with 136 yes votes versus 41 no votes collectively.

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And as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the results of the Southold Town judicial primary race between GOP incumbent Justice Rudolph Bruer and challenger Brian Hughes are still not in due to an apparent glitch in the Suffolk County Board of Elections’ online system.

Representatives of the Board of Elections did not return phone calls by press time, but Southold Town Republican Chairman Denis Noncarrow said that the votes are being counted by hand and that he expected results by noon.

"You'd think we'd see results right away with just a couple of primaries, but it crashed," he said. "Unbelievable."


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