Absentees, possibly coin flip, will determine race for Shelby GOP Committee

SHELBY – The 3-way battle for two positions on the Shelby Republican Committee for District 3 will go down to the absentee ballots, and possibly a coin flip if its remains tied.

On Tuesday night, after all the votes were counted for early voting, primary day and absentees thus far, Bruce Schmidt and Stephen Seitz Sr. were tied with 20. Alana Koneski was in the lead with 25.

There are nine absentee ballots that could potentially come in by the deadline on Tuesday, July 2, said Michael Mele, an Orleans County elections inspector.

He and Janice Grabowski, the other election commissioner for the county, will check with the State Board of Elections on Thursday to see the process if there is a tie for one of the committee positions.

When there was the potential for a tie in the Barre town supervisor race last November, the counsel from the state was to flip a coin if the race was deadlocked after all the votes were counted.

Mele said the local Board of Elections will do a hand count of all the ballots in the race in Shelby, and also the committee race in Yates that is close. For Yates in District 2, there are four candidates for two positions. The vote totals currently are Terry Chaffee Jr., 73; Lynne Johnson, 65, William Jurinich, 54; and Steven Colon, 30.