Poulin leads Nellis in in GOP primary for Fulton County DA

Jason Subik, The Daily Gazette, Schenectady, N.Y.
·3 min read

Jun. 29—Unofficial vote totals from the Fulton County Board of Elections Tuesday evening showed City of Johnstown Attorney and Northville resident Michael Poulin with an 82-vote lead over Acting Fulton County District Attorney Amanda Nellis in the Republican Party primary for county district attorney.

Fulton County Democratic Election Commissioner G. Jerry Ryan said the unofficial vote totals Tuesday night include 376 votes from early voting and 457 absentee ballots. Ryan said he's not sure how many absentee ballots could still come in within the one-week deadline if the absentee ballot was mailed on Tuesday.

Nellis said only about 50% of the total absentee ballots sent out by the Fulton County Board of Elections had come back by Tuesday, meaning as many as 400 could potentially come back within the deadline, placing the unofficial vote total in the Republican primary within the margin of the remaining absentees.

For Gloversville's city judge primaries, unofficial vote totals show incumbent Traci DiMezza appears to have trounced her challenger, former Gloversville city attorney John Clo, 573-287 in the GOP primary and 25-7 in the Conservative Party primary — totals as of press time.

In the GOP's county district attorney race, the unofficial results showed Poulin with 2,470 votes compared to Nellis' 2,388, as of press time.

Unofficial results showed Nellis did well in her native city of Johnstown with 455 votes, compared to Poulin's 351, despite Poulin having served as the city of Johnstown attorney for the past five years.

Poulin pulled in the highest unofficial vote total from any of the election precincts in the county at 212 from the Town of Mayfield's 1st election district. He also had much stronger unofficial vote totals from the Town of Northampton, where he resides, with 341 votes to Nellis' 87.

Regardless of the results of the GOP primary, Nellis and Poulin will have a second bout against each other in November because Poulin has secured the Conservative Party line and Nellis has filed an independent party petition.

For the Republican and Democratic party primaries for governor, the unofficial results in Fulton County show Johnstown native Harry Wilson with by far the most votes with 3,021 in the GOP primary with Lee Zeldin coming in second with 1,098. Incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul came in first in the Democratic primary and third overall in the unofficial vote totals for governor with 776.

Fred Volpp, a resident of the city of Johnstown, said he would have preferred to have voted for Donald Trump Tuesday, but since the twice-impeached former president was not on the ballot he settled for Johnstown native Harry Wilson for governor and Nellis for Fulton County District Attorney.

Volpp said Trump's connection to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani's son and GOP primary gubernatorial candidate Andrew Giuliani, who also served in Trump's administration, was not enough to earn his vote.

"I voted for Harry Wilson. He's a Johnstown boy," Volpp said. "I've known the Wilsons all of my life. I voted for my home boy. He ain't going to get it, but I figured I'd give him a shot."

Volpp explained his choice to support Johnstown native Nellis over Northville resident Poulin, who has served as city of Johnstown attorney for the last five years.

"I went with Amanda Nellis. I know [her], and Poulin will probably get it," he said. "As long as Trump runs [in 2024], I'm good."

Janet Glasser, also from the city of Johnstown, said she won't reveal which candidates she reported in the Republican Party primary. She said she was skeptical that any of the Republican candidates for governor can win in the general election in November.

"I hold out hope that maybe we can have a Republican governor someday, but I'm not sure that's ever going to happen, no matter how hard we try," she said.