SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Election day 2021 has passed, and all the votes are in. 

A final tally of election results won't happen for some time yet. According to Cora Edwards, Commissioner of the Sullivan County Board of Elections, the board won't start counting absentee ballots until after November 9—New York State law allows ballots to come in by the 9th as long as they're postmarked by the 2nd. 

UPDATE — As of Friday, November 5, the start-date for opening absentee ballots has been pushed back to Tuesday, November 16, at 10:00 a.m.. In a statement to the River Reporter, Edwards said, "The New York State Board of Elections changed the date and we are complying with that directive." As of November 5, the Sullivan County Board of Elections has received 27 absentee ballots from  Cochecton, 67 absentee ballots from Highland, 164 absentee ballots from Thompson, 104 absentee ballots from Mamakating, and 979 absentee ballots from Fallsburg.  The Board has received 1920 absentee ballots in total.

But enough results have come in to get a general sense of how races across the county have gone. 

Supervisors

Seven of the county's 15 towns had a contested supervisor's race this election cycle. 

Most of those races appear to have been won by their respective incumbents. 

Daniel Sturm (DEM, CON) holds 60 percent of the vote in the Bethel supervisor's race according to the preliminary results, beating out Ira Moore Lif (IRA). Steven Vegilante (DEM) leads by a similar margin in Fallsburg, with 61 percent of the vote to Katherin Rappaport's (PRE) 38 percent, as does Robert Eggleton in Rockland (DEM, CON), who leads with 58 percent of the vote to Curtis Varner's (REP, HUD) 40 percent. 

The Thompson supervisor's race is somewhat closer, with Bill Reiber (DEM, CON) holding 51 percent of the vote and Scott Mace (REP) holding 48 percent. Jeffrey Haas (REP, CON) currently leads in Highland by an even narrower margin, holding a 25 vote lead over challenger John Pizzolato (DEM, LIF). Reports indicate that 90 absentee ballots remain to be counted, which could potentially turn that race in Pizzolato's favor. 

The only supervisor's race where the challenger holds a lead is in Mamakating, where Michael W. Robbins (REP, CON) currently holds 53 percent of the vote to Janet Lybolt's (DEM, MAM) 46 percent. 

Town Board positions

The election shook up a number of town boards across the county, with preliminary results showing several seats changing hands. 

In Bethel, challenger William J. Crumley (REP, CON) leads in the preliminary results, with 499 votes to runner-up Lillian Hendrickson's (DEM, CON) 464. Crumley will replace Dawn Rider (DEM, STR) on the town board, who trails in the preliminary results with 369 votes, behind third place candidate Lisa M. Schick (REP). 

Long time council member Dr. Paul Salzberg (DEM) fell in Cochecton, while Sean Nearing (REP, CON) held his seat on the board. OF the two challenger candidates, John Nober (REP, CON) and Kambri Crews (DEM), Nober currently leads by 14 votes, with reports indicating 24 absentee ballots left to count. 

The Delaware town council race had Ian Blumenthal (REP, CON) join Alfred Steppich (REP, CON) on the town board, with both candidates leading by over a hundred votes over John Erik Karkula (DEM). A similar story occured in Fallsburg, with Michael Bensimon (DEM, WOR) joining incumbent Nathan Steingart (DEM) in leading over challenging candidates Sean Wall-Carty (REP) and Miranda Behan (WOR, TAX) by over a hundred votes. 

In Tusten, Jane Luchsinger (DEM, AAA) retained her seat on the town board with 74 percent of the vote, beating out challenger Yunhui Olman (REP). Fellow Democratic candidates Greg Triggs (DEM, AAA) and Kevin McDonough (DEM, AAA) lead in their races with 27 and 26 percent of the vote respectively, beating out Glen Swedsen (REP) and incumbent Alfred Smith (REP). Incumbrent candidate Louis Milucky (REP) leads in the Fremont town council race, together with fellow Republican candidate John J. Hubert (REP; James Grier (DEM) and Sarah Cooper (DEM) trail. 

The town council race in Highland, like the supervisor's race, remains close, with reports indicating 90 absentee ballots remaining. Kaitlin Haas (DEM, REP, CON) and Christopher Tambini (REP, CON) currently lead, with challenger Laura Burrell (DEM, LIF) within nine votes of Tambini, and with fellow challenger Margaret Granese (LIF) trailing by almost 200 votes. 

John Lennon Jr. (REP. CON) and Brian Mc Philips (DEM, CON) lead by a significant margin in Liberty, with Lilian Stettner (DEM, TAX) trailing. 

A number of council seats appear to have changed hands in Mamakating. The councilmembers for wards two and five, Gary Forthoffer (REP, MAM) and Thomas Morrow (REP) hold sizeable leads against challengers Grahm Vest (DEM, COM) and Joseph Marshall (DEM, MAM) respectively. The council seats in wards one, four and six appear to have changed hands, with John Rufer Jr. (REP, CON) leading over Eileen Rogers (DEM, MAM) in ward one, with Peter Goodman (DEM, COM) leading over Ralph Bo Tunno, II (REP) in ward four, and with Tyler Wood (REP, CON) leading over John Crudo Jr. (DEM, MAM) in ward six. The ward three race has incumbent John Lacey (REP, CON) leading by one vote over Matthew Mordo (DEM, MAM).

For more election results, see https://sullivanny.us/Departments/Elections/ElectionNightResults. This page will be updated as more results come in. Data included in this page is accurate as of noon on Wednesday, November 3.