Absentees will again determine close race between Sidonio and Miller in Murray
ALBION – It’s the third close race between Bob Miller and Joe Sidonio in less than two years for Murray town supervisor, and again the absentee ballots are needed to determine the winner.
In Murray, 36 absentee ballots were taken out for last Tuesday’s Republican primary. The absentees will be counted this morning in the Orleans County Board of Elections office.
After the polls closed at 9 p.m. on Tuesday, Sidonio had a 1-vote lead over Miller, 255 to 254.
Sidonio has been there before, with a slight lead over Miller when the polls closed. In both cases, Miller would overtake him with the absentees.
In September 2017, Miller and Sidonio squared off in the Republican primary for town supervisor. Miller was behind Sidonio by 7 votes after the polls closed. But when the absentee ballots were counted on Sept. 18, 2017, Miller emerged as the victor for the Republican line, getting 19 absentees to 5 for Sidonio.
The two would face each other again on Nov. 7, 2017 in the general election. Sidonio stayed in the race with the Conservative and Independence lines.
Sidonio had a 16-vote lead, 558 to 542, when the polls closed. However, Miller had 26-vote lead in the absentees, 47 to 21 for Sidonio. The final tally was 589 votes for Miller, 579 for Sidonio.
Today’s absentee count will also finalize the primary for Orleans County sheriff. Chris Bourke has a 99-vote lead over Brett Sobieraski with 139 absentees out.
