Waiting Continues for Democratic Primary Results as Suffolk County Board of Elections Counts Absentee Ballots

The waiting continues for news of a winner after a nail biter Democratic congressional primary night left Anna Throne-Holst with a narrow lead over opponent Dave Calone.

On Thursday, the Suffolk County Board of Elections said the counting of the absentee ballots had begun; the process could take anywhere from one day to two weeks.

The initial results had Throne-Holst in the lead by a narrow margin of 5,439 to 5, 415.

According to Gordon Herr, chairman of the Southampton Town Democratic Committee, 4,118 absentee ballots were mailed to voters and 1,665 were returned to the Suffolk County Board of Elections as of June 28. Ballots postmarked by June 27 and received at the BOE by Tuesday will be counted.

Herr said this week that the envelopes would be reviewed Thursday before the envelopes are opened, and agreed the results would likely come next week sometime.

"Anna is ahead at the end of the Election Night by 29 votes, so the race is too close to call," Herr said after the vote.

The winner will face off with incumbent Lee Zeldin in the upcoming election in November.

According to unofficial results by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, Throne-Holst took 50.07 percent of the vote to her opponent Dave Calone's 49.85 percent.

After the too-close-to-call race both candidates issued statements.

"I'm proud to be in the lead after Election Night, and am most especially proud of the positive campaign we ran. I owe a heartfelt debt of gratitude to our thousands of supporters and volunteers who are invaluable partners in getting our message to voters," Throne-Holst said.

She added, "Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent attacking me with dishonest negative ads, but today we are leading because voters trusted my record of fighting for Suffolk County families and cleaning up the financial mess in Southampton, while turning the town around, and protecting our environment. Voters also know I have a record of bringing people on all sides together, and getting things done even when the going gets tough. I look forward to working with Democrats throughout the District as we focus on our common goal of defeating Lee Zeldin. We all know Lee Zeldin is not looking forward to going up against my record, and voters will reject not only his extremist views and votes, but also his enthusiastic embrace of Donald Trump, who is dangerous for both Long Island and the country."

Calone also released a statement on the Democratic primary night results in New York's 1st Congressional District.

"While we won’t know the final results until the roughly 1700 absentee votes are counted next week, the current 29 vote margin represents a victory of the volunteer grassroots. We did not have Wall Street fundraisers, and we did not have $720,000 of SuperPAC funding poured in for us in the last three weeks — but here we are in a virtual tie. I cannot begin to thank all the volunteers and supporters who have put their hearts and souls into this campaign over the past year. Together, we knocked on thousands of doors, held nearly fifty house parties, and made tens of thousands of phone calls to voters in every corner of this district."

He added that the results from Primary Night were "extremely close" and that the goal was to ensure every vote was counted.

"The stakes this fall are extremely high. Our congressman, Lee Zeldin, is a proud defender of Donald Trump who voted to defund Planned Parenthood and voted against prohibiting people on the terrorist watch list from buying guns. Last night, we proved the power a strong volunteer grassroots organization can have against big money, and this is exactly what Democrats will need this November to defeat Lee Zeldin."

Throne-Holst and Calone duked it out recently at a Southold High School event organized by the Southold Town Democratic Club. To read about that event and their stances on the issues, click here.