Absentees Give Reichlin-Melnick 38th Senate District Victory
NYACK, NY — With almost all of the absentee ballots counted in the Democratic primary for the 38th New York Senate race, Elijiah Reichlin-Melnick declared victory over Justin Sweet and Eudson Tyson Francois.
He faces Republican William Weber in November in the race to see who will represent the oddly drawn district that includes all of Rockland County plus a tiny section of Westchester across the Hudson River.
Though the primary was June 23, actual counting of absentee ballots did not start until last week. State election officials said county boards of elections received a historically high number of absentee ballots for all the June 23 primaries due to the coronavirus pandemic. The counting didn't start until after the last mail-in stragglers arrived (absentee ballots postmarked by June 23 must be received by the Board of Elections no later than June 30 to be counted) and challenges to some ballots were resolved.
The counting of over 12,700 absentee ballots late Thursday gave Reichlin-Melnick a 921-vote lead over opponent Justin Sweet, who was ahead after in-person voting.
On election night, the state board's interim tally showed Sweet ahead with 6,482 votes to Reichlin-Melnick's 4,594 and Francois' 2,933. But with nearly 17,000 absentee ballots to count, campaign officials believed that the absentee ballots would change the outcome.
"I want to thank Justin Sweet and Eudson Francois for joining me in this race and giving voters a choice in this primary. To all the voters who supported Justin and Eudson, I promise to work hard to unify our party," Reichlin-Melnick said in a press release. "Now I’m ready to continue fighting for the people of Rockland and Westchester in the general election in November!"
He has served as a Nyack Village Trustee since 2017. Now the Legislative Director for State Senator James Skoufis, who represents parts of Rockland, Orange, and Ulster counties, Reichlin-Melnick worked as the Executive Assistant for Orangetown Town Supervisor Andy Stewart, and managed Stewart's successful re-election campaigns in 2013 and 2015.
SEE:
Candidate Profile: Elijah Reichlin-Melnick For State Senate.
This article originally appeared on the Nyack-Piermont Patch
