Mulverhill, of Malone, running on the Republican ticket, won his third four-year term as sheriff with 6,997 votes against Mallach, of Saranac Lake, running as a Democrat, who brought in 5,998 votes, according to unofficial numbers that didn’t include 1,022 uncounted absentee ballots.

“It was a good race,” Mulverhill said, “a good clean race.”

Mulverhill said he was impressed with the turnout despite there not being much on the ticket for voters. “The voters have spoken,” he said.

The majority of the votes for Mallach came from the southern end of the county, while Mulverhill took in the lead in most precincts in the northern part of the county, reflecting their hometowns and bases of support.

Jordanna Mallach tallies votes alongside her daughter and other supporters Tuesday night in the Voters for Change office in downtown Saranac Lake. (Enterprise photo — Jesse Adcock)

“I’m incredibly grateful for the people of Harrietstown and for the support they showed for me,” Mallach said. “My margins both against Bruce Barney and Mulverhill in Harrietstown were significant, and I feel like that’s my community speaking out in support of me. And that means a lot to me.”

Mulverhill, in emails for a sheriff’s race preview last week, stressed his work while in office: combating the opioid epidemic, cost saving measures in the county jail and instituting mental health and substance abuse screening for incoming inmates. He said this work will continue.

“We’re going to keep working on the opioid crisis, that’s something that’s near and dear to all of us,” Mulverhill said.

Another aim of his will be getting people to continue the care that they need once released from jail, he said. In addition, Mulverhill said he’s going to look at new programs, like a prospective work program for inmates which could include vocational training, depending on the Franklin County budget. He also said he’d stay busy with ongoing capital projects at the jail, which have included repairs to including the structure’s grease pit, air conditioning systems and roof, alongside other renovations. Mulverhill said these projects will wrap up in the next year or two.

Mallach said her experience running for sheriff was very different from her experience running for Harrietstown Town Council.

“I think that as a society, as a community we’re all comfortable at this point with a woman serving as town councilperson, but many individuals were very vocal about it not being appropriate for me to serve in the position as sheriff,” Mallach said. “Plenty of people felt perfectly fine saying they weren’t going to vote for me for sheriff because I was a woman.”