In a tight three-way race for Putnam County executive, with the top two candidates separated by fewer than 600 votes in unofficial election night results from the Board of Elections, Democrat Brett Yarris has declined to concede to Republican Kevin Byrne.
In a statement released early Wednesday (Nov. 4), Yarris called the race "too close to call."
"Unofficial results show County Executive Kevin Byrne with 20,145 votes (47.99%), Brett Yarris with 19,550 (46.57%), and Conservative candidate Tatiana Brahimi with 2,271 (5.41%), plus 10 write-ins, leaving a margin of just 595 votes."
Byrne, a former state assemblyman running for his second term as county executive, declared victory late Tuesday night.
Asked about Yarris' decision not to concede, he texted: "We won. Statistically, it’s over" and sent a link to a Facebook post celebrating the win.
"Every vote matters," the Facebook post read. "Thank you Putnam County. It’s been an honor serving you for four years, and I’m excited to serve you for another four."
According to Yarris, outstanding mail-in ballots "alone number over twice that margin," while an unknown number of affidavit ballots remain to be counted. Additional mail-in ballots need to be cured before they can be added to the tally.
"Every voter has the right to have their vote counted, and every one of these ballots has to be counted the same way as the votes counted tonight," said Yarris. "We owe it to every voter to wait for a full and accurate count. When we know more, a final determination will be made in this race, and we expect the margin could close enough to trigger a recount."
Yarris concluded his statement by thanking supporters.
"To everyone who knocked on a door, made a call, or cast a ballot: thank you," Yarris said. "Putnam showed up. Now let's make sure every vote is counted."
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