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Carriero wins county judge seat

Franklin county court race: Count of 500 absentee ballots gives current district attorney 48-vote lead

Craig Carreiro (Enterprise photo — Chris Knight)

MALONE — After over 500 absentee ballots were counted by Franklin County election officials Monday afternoon, unofficial election results point to the county’s current district attorney filling a seat on the Franklin County Court.

Craig Carriero, the Democratic candidate, tallied 306 votes from absentee ballots, while Elizabeth Crawford, the Republican candidate, added 234 ballots toward her vote total Monday afternoon, according to unofficial election results.

“I’m relieved that it is over,” Carriero said. “I truly want to congratulate Elizabeth on an incredible race. She is a fantastic opponent, and to have a race like this come down to 48 votes, that is not a winner and a loser, that is just someone had to have more votes at the end of it. I think how close [the vote was] shows what a great candidate she is, and what a great lawyer she is.”

After the unofficial results were tallied at the end of voting on Nov. 2, only 24 votes separated the two candidates running to replace Judge Robert G. Main Jr. for a 10-year term on the county bench.

On Election Night, Crawford tallied 3,866 votes, or 50.09% of ballots, while 3,842 votes were cast in favor of Carriero, 49.78% of the vote.

Brandon John Varin, left, the county’s Democratic election commissioner, and Bridget Furman, the country’s Republican deputy election commissioner, tally absentee ballots Monday afternoon at the Franklin County Courthouse. (Provided photo — Alexander Violo/Malone Telegram)

Adding Monday’s count to the unofficial results from Election Night, Carriero now holds a 48-vote lead over Crawford.

Carriero said he believes a district attorney and a county court judge need to have a similar approach, despite being on different sides of the bench.

“As DA you are supposed to always do what is right, and that is not always the maximum sentence on people,” Carriero said. “You are supposed to look at each case on its own merits and each person. I don’t think it will be that different — I’m sure once I get up there I will feel an incredible amount of difference, but I think the mindset is you have to do what is right and fair, and that is what I tried to do as DA.”

According to Brandon John Varin, the county’s Democratic election commissioner, a rough estimate indicated a 42 vote margin would be close enough to initiate a hand count of all the ballots cast in the race for county court judge.

If any races are within one-half of a percent after Monday’s vote count, a recount will automatically be undertaken.

“Those hand counts will be officially done when we do our recanvas into our canvass books,” Varin said.

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