Special Election for County Legislator on Tuesday

A special election to fill a vacated seat on the Westchester County Board of Legislators will be held Tuesday, Feb. 15. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The 12th district—which is made up of Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Irvington, Edgemont, Hartsdale and parts of unincorporated Greenburgh—lost its representative when Tom Abinanti (D-NY-92) was elected to serve in the NY State Assembly in Albany. 

Candidates in Tuesday's election are Democrat MaryJane Shimsky, a Hastings resident, and Republican Nick DeCicco, of Hartsdale.

A self-proclaimed "political outsider," DeCicco's number-one goal is to reduce property taxes, which may require making cuts to numerous county-funded programs.

Shimsky wants to continue in her predecessor's footsteps, working to protect healthcare and financial-assistance programs for Westchester's most under-served residents. She is also concerned about safeguarding reproductive rights for women. 

This special election has received an unusual amount of attention because it will determine whether Democrats hold their 12-person super-majority on the board, which allows them to override vetoed legislation from Republican County Executive Robert Astorino's office. 

In December, the Board of Legislators overrode 247 of Astorino's 260 line-item vetos in the 2011 budget. 

In simple terms, electing Shimsky would protect that super-majority vote and, in most cases, voting in DeCicco would make the override extremely unlikely.

See unofficial results here, as they come in on Tuesday.

Read more about Shimsky and DeCicco here.