WASHINGTON — It looks as if there could be a new sheriff in Orange County, as Washington’s belatedly reported results created a little cushion in what had been a razor thin race, while providing clarity to a competitive contest that saw the incumbent lose in a recently redrawn legislative district.
Both races were too close to call Wednesday morning when results from Washington were hard to find even though they were right where Harry Roush left them.
It wasn’t a problem with the vote tabulator — Washington doesn’t have one — and Town Clerk Carol Davis said she thought Roush, her assistant, relayed the results to the secretary of state’s office before election workers headed for home and he headed to the fire station while volunteers responded to a structure fire in Williamstown shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Roush confirmed Davis’ account and couldn’t explain why Washington’s results, which were sitting on his desk, weren’t posted on the secretary of state’s website.
“I submitted them,” he said, volunteering to go to the office and try again.
Given the tight nature of two races — one for sheriff and the other for a local legislative seat — Washington’s votes mattered.
Unofficial results from the remaining Orange County towns had Sheriff Bill Bohnyak, a Republican, trailing one of his deputies — George Contois — by five votes, 6,309-6,304.
Bohnyak’s bid for fifth consecutive four-year term didn’t get any help in Washington where voters favored his deputy. Contois, who ran as a Democrat, received 293 votes in Washington, where he lives on Cyr Road, while Bohnyak picked up 196 votes.
That pushed Contois’ county-wide total to 6,602 and Bohnyak’s to 6,500. Those numbers will change when official results trickle in and are well within the margin for requesting a recount.
Attempts to reach Bohnyak and Contois for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday, but Contois got a boost in Washington — pushing what was a tenuous five-vote lead to just over 100.
Barring a recount, that likely puts the race out of reach for Bohnyak, who is expected to pick up three votes, compared to one for Contois when Williamstown reports its official results. The net gain of two votes will leave Contois 100 votes ahead based on unofficial results from the 12 other Orange County towns.
First elected in 2006, Bohnyak, a Randolph Republican, carried his home town, 1,418-704, according to unofficial results from Randolph.
Bohnyak won in five other towns, but none of the results were lopsided. He carried Braintree, 390-185, Brookfield, 493-214, Chelsea, 310-258, Topsham, 257-211, and Williamstown, 692-614.
Though the race was much closer in some towns than others, Contois won 11 of them.
Contois won big in Thetford, defeating Bohnyak, 1,027-388, and comfortably carried Bradford, 619-482, Fairlee, 298-162, and Strafford, 444-172.
Though the margins were smaller, and in a couple cases nearly nonexistent, Contois also carried Corinth, 318-317, Newbury, 488-432, Orange, 222-217, Tunbridge, 357-312, Vershire, 200-145, and West Fairlee, 150-117.
Waiting for Washington’s results kept hope alive for Rep. Samantha Lefebvre, R-Orange, who was trailing Corinth Democrat Carl Demrow by 122 votes — 805-683 — with three of four towns in her redrawn district reporting results.
The race was a rematch of the two-year-old contest that saw Lefebvre oust Demrow — then the incumbent — in what was then a two-member district that included Williamstown and Chelsea in addition to Corinth, Orange, Vershire and Washington. The latter four communities were included in the new single-member district that saw Demrow carry two of them — Corinth, 410-264, and Vershire, 248-114 — while Lefebvre won in Orange, where she serves on the select board, 305-147.
Lefebvre had hoped the results from Washington might tip the race in her favor.
That didn’t happen.
Demrow narrowly won in Washington 266-251, increasing his lead in the district-wide race to 1,071-924 and prompting a concession from Lefebvre.
“I hope Carl (Demrow) serves the towns well,” she said Wednesday morning.
Lefebvre said the redrawn district was a handicap and she still objected to a redistricting decision that assigned a portion of Williamstown to a two-member district with Barre Town, while leaving the remainder in a single-member district with Chelsea.
Rep. Rodney Graham, R-Williamstown easily won a fifth consecutive term in the reconfigured district, defeating Williamstown Democrat Seth Keighley, 1,049-675, on Tuesday.
Graham won handily — 713-439 — in Williamstown, where he serves on the select board, and carried Chelsea, 336-236.
Sen. Mark MacDonald, D-Williamstown, didn’t have to wait for the Washington results to celebrate his reelection. His race against Brookfield lawyer John Klar was out of reach long before they were reported Wednesday morning. MacDonald defeated Klar, 5,683-4,516, to win a 13th term — the last 11 of them consecutively.
david.delcore @timesargus.com
