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When the unofficial election results were released by the Tompkins County Board of Elections last Tuesday night the results seemed clear: in the contested races Connie Wilcox and Marty Christopher had retained their seats on the Town Board, defeating challenger Hugh Bahar, and Scott Pinney had unseated incumbent Supervisor Steve Farkas by a margin of 70 votes.

On Wednesday a bombshell hit: more than 50 votes for Farkas hadn't been reported.  That made Pinney's lead a vulnerable 18 votes.  And with 120 absentee ballots sent out, it was anybody's guess who would win the Supervisor race.  Inspectors at the Central Fire Station polling place had misread results generated from the voting machine when they called them into the Election Commission late Tuesday.  The machines print on an oversized four-part form, with the clearest being the bottom page.


 "When the inspectors were reading the tally they were reading the front copy, which is the least clear of them," explains Democratic Election Commissioner Stephen DeWitt.  "The one that is clearest is the bottom copy, which is closest to the counter.  When they read it for column 4B (Farkas), they read to us 123.  When you actually look at the sheet it is actually 173."

Mistaking a seven for a two wasn't the only mistake made at Lansing polling places.  At the Lansingville fire station the paper was inserted into the voting machine backwards.  While this made the results harder to read, the votes were read correctly when election inspectors called in their tally.  Another error at the Tompkins County Airport polling place cost Farkas two votes.


Although the deadline to receive absentee ballots is not for another three days, commissioners DeWitt and his Republican counterpart Elizabeth Cree decided to count the ballots that have arrived so far for three municipalities with close elections.  The two commissioners, along with candidates and their attorneys from Caroline, Enfield, and Lansing spent all day yesterday counting the ballots.

After more than three grueling hours pouring over each envelope and form, the results were in.  Pinney was now 21 votes ahead of Farkas.  Every envelope was inspected, and some rejected for errors.  Those that were not rejected were opened and the ballots were also inspected.  A few more were challenged, but the attorneys accepted most of the ballots.  Farkas was represented by attorney Bill Troy, a former Village of Lansing attorney.  Pinney was represented by former Ithaca City Attorney Chuck Guttman and by former election commissioner Shary Zifchock.  Lansing Town Attorney Guy Krogh was also on hand to unofficially observe the proceedings.

Farkas says he was pleased with the campaign process.  "It got played out to the end, and that's the way it should be," he says.  "It's almost a dead heat: 21 votes.  But you only have to win by one vote, and that's the answer.  I'll sure help him if he wants during the transition.  It's been a good race.  No dirt, no mud, and I appreciate him for that."

Pinney was equally gracious, accepting Farkas's offer of transition help.  "I'm very happy," Pinney says.  "I'm really looking forward to get started on all the issues we talked about, and resolve some of those issues.  I want to work for everybody in the town.  I want to make it a better community for everybody and our children, and hopefully it will be a better place to live in the future."


Pinney agreed with Farkas that it was a clean race.  "I think Lin Davidson and the Republican Party did a very good job campaigning for all of their candidates.  It was very clean, and I appreciate that."

Farkas hasn't had time to consider his next move in Lansing's political landscape, but he is optimistic that he will still be a part of it.  "I think I'm going to take a vacation," Farkas says.  "After that I'll decide what I want to do.  I'm sure I'll stay involved in politics, because I enjoy it.  I had my eight years.  They get rid of presidents in eight years, I guess they get rid of supervisors in eight years," he joked.

With only 40 ballots still out, the chances of an upset are remote.  As of yesterday the tally is 945 for Pinney and 924 for Farkas.  Even if all 40 ballots are returned in time, the likelihood that they would reverse the result is remote.  Though the final official count won't be made until next Tuesday, both candidates believe that Pinney has won.  "I'm really looking forward to getting started in January," Pinney says.

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