Arden Holds on Over Weaver in No. Castle; Recount Expected
Challenger Howard Arden has held on for a 13-vote victory over North Castle Supervisor William Weaver in Tuesday’s North Castle Republican primary after the Westchester Board of Elections completed the machine count of the votes.
District 10, which includes the area around Whippoorwill East in Armonk, had not been included in Tuesday’s totals after it was discovered the votes could not read on the machine. The board of elections was forced to hand count the ballots to complete the totals on Thursday night.
With all districts and absentee ballots included by Friday morning, Arden defeated Weaver 398-385.
However, one town Republican Committee officer said she expected there would be a recount before the results were declared official. Gail Norris, vice president of the committee and a Weaver supporter, said the result was too close to bypass a recount.
In the revised totals for the council race, Stephen D’Angelo finished first with 442, followed by Matthew Rice at 399. Despite being backed by two separate factions of the town’s Republican Committee, D’Angelo and Rice appear on their way to appearing together on the party’s line on Nov. 8. They finished well in front of Kerry Lutz, who collected 318 votes.
Arden, who was optimistic that he would hold onto his lead, said Wednesday that voters responded favorably to his candidacy because of some of the ideas proposed to help the town function better, most notably the need for a fulltime town administrator.
“I think the voters saw that we had a vision for the future of our town, such as more professional management, while the current administration has no vision,” he said.
If the results hold up it sets up a fascinating election for supervisor and town board in November. Although Weaver lost his own party’s primary, he was cross-endorsed by the Democrats and will also appear on the Conservative and Alliance Party lines. The latter is a new party formed this year by a cross-section of North Castle Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Meanwhile, in addition to the Republican line, Arden will also appear on the Independence and Libertarian lines.
In the race for town justice, incumbent Elyse Lazansky defeated Douglas Martino in both the Democratic and Republican primaries, although Martino narrowly captured the Independence Part
Martin has more than 30 years experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, including a frequent focus on zoning and planning issues. He has been editor-in-chief of The Examiner since its inception in 2007. Read more from Martin’s editor-author bio here. Read Martin’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/martin-wilbur2007/