By Nathan Mayberg
MONTICELLO — September 16, 2005 – Frank Armstrong will take on Mike Schiff in the race to be the next Sullivan County Sheriff, after Armstrong easily won the county’s deeply underattended Democratic Primary versus Paul Trust.
According to an unofficial tally provided by the Sullivan County Board of Elections, only 1,748 registered Democrats managed to show up for the election.
The New York State Board of Elections Website reported 22,989 registered Democrats (and 17,612 Republicans) in the county as of April 2005.
That puts the turnout well below ten percent.
The tally for Armstrong versus Trust, before absentees were counted, stood at 1,111 to 637.
Armstrong was short and to the point about his win: “Obviously, I was pleased.”
Trust said the lack of voters was “disheartening.” He attributed part of that lack of interest to a low number of towns with any primaries at all.
Trust said he put a lot of effort into the race, but he respected the “will of the voters. . . . It became my second full-time job. It’s worth it, to try and make a difference. . . . You hope for the best. It should be a very exciting sheriff’s race now.”
In the Town of Liberty, Highway Superintendent Timothy Pellam withstood a primary challenge from Kevin Mullen by a vote of 192-183. As of yesterday, the Board of Elections only reported four absentee ballots from Liberty.
William Sipos Jr. and Eugene Raponi will be the Democratic candidates in the Town of Forestburgh Councilman elections this November. With voters able to choose two candidates, Sipos took home 85 votes (to take outgoing Councilwoman Danielle Mack’s spot), while incumbent Eugene Raponi received 76 votes and Fran Gager tallied 55 votes of support.
The Forestburgh committees were even closer. On the Democratic side, voters were able to choose two candidates. Daniel Hogue took in 68, while Ed Mack picked up 68 votes. Raponi lost his seat on the committee, as he only tallied 56 votes.
The Forestburgh Republican Committee was razor thin in its elections. Evelyn Parks and Roy Gunther won seats by receiving 36 and 35 votes respectively. Olga Parlow just missed with 33 nods, and Eugene Blabey wasn’t too far behind at 30 check marks.
In the Town of Rockland, Theodore Hartling coasted to a victory for the Republican nomination for Highway Superintendent, with a vote of 180-111 over Edwin Edwards.