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Parsons Wins Independence Party Nomination

LEWISBORO, N.Y. – Peter Parsons has won the Independence Party nomination for Lewisboro town supervisor, defeating incumbent Charles Duffy in Tuesday’s primary. Duffy was seeking the nomination via a write-in vote.

Parson had received the party’s nomination earlier this summer, but Duffy procured enough petition signatures to force the primary. Since Duffy was not a registered Independent, he could not appear on the actual ballot and could only receive write-in votes.

Parsons received 43 votes, according to the Westchester County Board of Elections unofficial tally. There were 32 votes cast for the supervisor position as write-ins, but they have not yet been tallied.

“The board of elections has to take them out of the voting machine and read every one and hand-tally them,” said Town Clerk Kathy Cory. “I’ve seen plenty of (write-in) ballots with Mickey Mouse on them over the years.”

Even if all 32 write-in votes were cast for Duffy, he would still fall short of the 43 votes that Parsons received.

Duffy already has the Republican nomination, while Parsons will run on the Democratic line.

In the race for the town council Independence Party nomination, Parson’s running mates, Peter Gross and Dan Welsh, each received 33 votes. They were challenged by Duffy’s running mates, incumbent Councilman John Pappalardo and newcomer Rhea Mallett. There were a total of 71 write-in ballots cast for the two town council seats that are up for grabs, more than the 66 garnered between Gross and Welsh. But how those 71 votes are divvied up won’t be known until the board of elections counts and verifies them later this week. The top two vote-getters will receive the nominations.

“I think the Republican candidates for town council acquitted themselves quite well,” Parsons said. “And I won.  But it’s a terrible predictor of anything (regarding the general election in November) because of the low number of votes involved. It’s not enough to base a poll on – it’s simply about who will be on an extra line on the ballot in November.”

However, Parson said he felt the turnout – about 20 percent of registered Independence Party members in Lewisboro voted – was actually pretty good because many of the party’s voters are away at school.

Duffy said despite falling short of the nomination, he was pleased with the overall outcome of the primary.

“This result shows the strength of our ticket,” he said. “A write-in campaign is always an up-hill battle, but our team felt it was important to give Lewisboro voters a choice. With the close race for supervisor and with our council candidates currently ahead, we have achieved that goal.”

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