Harrison supervisor race: judge orders write-in recount as one vote separates candidates

A raucous court hearing Wednesday revealed Harrison Supervisor Richard Dionisio is, for now, losing the race for his re-election by just one vote, even as the judge ordered a recount of write-in votes, starting next week.

The hearing, meant to address Dionisio's attempt to disqualify the candidacy of his write-in challenger, former supervisor Ron Belmont, ended with state Supreme Court Justice Lewis Lubell threatening to level sanctions again the attorneys present.

Belmont ran a last-ditch write-in campaign against Dionisio earlier this month. His one-vote lead over Dionisio is expected to grow as additional write-in ballots are evaluated in court.

On Wednesday, Lubell ordered the Westchester County Board of Elections to recount all write-in votes for the supervisor's race, including 1,988 write-ins elections officials previously agreed to award to Belmont and the approximately 150 write-in votes that were disputed over technical or other defects.

Many write-in votes, for example, were cast simply for "Belmont" or "R. Belmont." Following the board's recount, Lubell will have to decide whether those votes are awarded to Belmont or not.

Nearly every single one of the votes left to award were written in for Ron Belmont, or some variant of his name, but technical defects could prevent Belmont from receiving some or all of them.

"The North Star of the new election law has been enfranchisement over disenfranchisement, and to consider voter intent, specifically with write-in ballots," argued Jeff Binder, one of Belmont's attorneys.

Lubell acknowledged that with the current state of election law in New York, there is little guidance on how to proceed with the count of write-in ballots while considering the parties' objections.

"I'm in uncharted waters," Lubell said. "I'm going to do what I believe to be the most efficient and appropriate way to resolve the dispute amongst these candidates."

Dionisio's lawsuit over Harrison term limits ongoing

Belmont's apparent victory comes as Dionisio is moving to nullify his candidacy completely. Dionisio sued Belmont last week, arguing he could not hold office because a local law prevents an official from serving more than 10 years as supervisor.

Belmont previously served for 10 years as Harrison's supervisor, from 2012 to 2021.

However, the validity of the term limits remains in doubt as the New York Court of Appeals struck down a similar term-limits law from the town of Clarkstown earlier this year. The Clarkstown law had not been submitted to the voters in a referendum, a similar defect with Harrison's term limits.

Further complicating the issue is that on the same ballot where Belmont ran his campaign, Harrison did indeed submit its term limits to the voters in a referendum. The measure appears to have passed. It's unclear whether a concurrent term-limits referendum could invalidate a candidate winning on the same ballot.

At Wednesday's hearing, Lubell quickly grew impatient with the attorneys bickering and interrupting each other. On several occasions, he threatened to level sanctions against them.

"You will act like lawyers!" he chided them. "In my courtroom, decorum is maintained. If it’s not, I don’t care what your clients wish or don’t wish, you will be recused from this case."

What happens now?

The recount of the write-in votes for supervisor is scheduled to begin on Monday at the Board of Elections. Ultimately, Lubell will have to review those votes to see how many of the contested write-ins should be awarded to Belmont.

Depending on the size of Belmont's lead once the contested votes are settled, the entire supervisor's race may be subject to a full mandatory recount of all ballots cast, a requirement of state election law.

After the dust has settled on the final tally, Lubell will also rule on Belmont's eligibility to take office.

Asher Stockler is a reporter for The Journal News and the USA Today Network New York. You can send him an email at astockler@lohud.com. Reach him securely: asher.stockler@protonmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Harrison NY supervisor race: Belmont leads by 1 vote, recount ordered