Overton, Burke-Gonzalez Win Seats on the Town Board

Republican candidate Fred Overton and Democratic candidate Kathee Burke-Gonzalez will join Supervisor Elect Larry Cantwell on the East Hampton Town Board in 2014.

With 19 out of 19 districts reporting machine votes in, Overton was the highest vote-getter, receiving 3,216, or just over 28.2 percent of the vote, while Burke-Gonzalez received 3,125 or 27.4 percent of the vote.

Democratic candidate Job Potter received 2,761, or 24.24 percent, votes and Republican incumbent Councilman Dominick Stanzione had received 2,293 votes, or 20.11 percent.

The town board, currently a Republican majority, will now be composed of four Democrats and one Republican.

"This is a bit surreal to me," Burke-Gonzalez said to supporters at Rowdy Hall, Democratic headquarters on Tuesday night. She got choked up speaking about how her win was a testament that it is possible to achieve a dream. 

Potter said Burke-Gonzalez was a great running mate, who "fully deserves to win," he said, adding a congratulations to Overton.

"I'm not going anywhere, you'll see me," said Potter, who previously served on the town board. "I'll work on the campaign in two years."

The results do not include absentee ballots, of which there are about 1,100, according to Chris Kelly, the Democratic campaign chairman.

"Kathee will end up with the highest number of votes," when the absentees are counted, Kelly said from Democratic headquarters at Rowdy Hall in East Hampton Village. More Democrats voted by absentee this year than Republicans, he said.

Supervisor Race

There was no surprise in the town supervisor race, as Larry Cantwell ran unopposed on the Democratic and Independence tickets. He received 4,802 votes, 98.22 percent of the vote.

There were 87 write-ins. Martin Drew, a Springs resident, ran a small write-in campaign, which he began toward the end of October. Exactly how many votes he received remains to be seen, as the board of elections won't have those results for a week or so.

With no race for town supervisor, there was very low voter turnout at the polls, Kelly said. In 2011, when Democrat challenger Zachary Cohen ran against incumbent Republican Town Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, about 7,000 voted, including absentees. There were only about 5,800 votes cast at the machines this year, though absentee ballots from Democrats was higher than usual.

Also attributing the low turnout, Kelly said was the fact that the town board majority was already essentially decided before the election — Democrats would have a majority just with Cantwell joining Sylvia Overby and Peter Van Scoyoc.

"I fully expected to have a competitive race," Cantwell said, and though the Republicans fielded no viable candidates, "It hasn't stopped me from working hard and campaigning."

This year's election was a far cry from that supervisor race between Wilkinson and Cohen in 2011, which was too close to call on election night. Ultimately, Cohen lost by 15 votes. Cohen made a push for the Democratic nomination again this year, but withdrew his candidacy after the screening committee recommended Cantwell, who already had the support of the Independence party.

Despite winning the Republican primary for supervisor in September, Cantwell declined to accept the nomination because he said he wanted to show his commitment to his Democratic running mates Job Potter and Kathee Burke-Gonzalez. He said he didn't want to appear on two lines with Republican candidates Stanzione and Overton, both of whom had the Independence nomination.

Other Uncontested Races

There were a few other uncontested races in East Hampton that are now official.

Carole A. Brennan was elected as Town Clerk with 5,281 votes, and Stephen K. Lynch was re-elected as the Town Highway Superintendent with 5,345 votes.

Both were cross endorsed by the three major parties and had the Conservative line.

There were a handful of write-ins for both positions.

Brennan, the current deputy town clerk, will replace Overton. She has been with the town for 21 years. She helped run the clerk's office in 2011 and 2012, while Overton battled cancer.

Lynch won election two years ago, ousting Scott King amidst much controversy in the then highway superintendent's office. Lynch received 3,567 votes, or nearly 60 percent in the 2011 race, while King had 2,387 votes, or about 40 percent.

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