Asharoken Elects Two New Trustees

More than 100 people voted in the election for Board of Trustees, despite the fact that the two candidates, Mary P. Pierce and Joseph Catanzano, had no opponents.

One-hundred and three voters walked through the door to vote and another 10 absentee ballots were received. Pierce received 108 votes and Catanzano received 106.

That translates to 19 percent of all eligible voters, according to Village Clerk Nancy Rittenhouse.

Mayor Pat Irving said that so many voters showing up in a year when there is no mayoral election and the two candidates were running uncontested is important.

"It's a show of confidence and support for the candidates and a sign of approval for the existing government," Irving said. "It also shows that Asharoken is an active voting community."

Neither current Deputy Mayor Pete Masterson nor Trustee John Elefante sought re-election, leaving the two seats open. Masterson said Tuesday night that he was confident he had made the right decision.

"I will miss this but all three of my sons are out in California now and I want to spend more time with them," Masterson said. "They do a lot together that I was unable to participate in formerly."

Elefante said only that he would be at the next board meeting. "And that will be it," he said.

Pierce said that "getting more sand" is one of the issues that she feels is most important going forward.

There were one vote each for two write-in candidates, Avrum Golub and Soo Jae Kim.

The election marked the first that Asharoken used the new scanner voting system with a ballot marking device or BMD.