Family Court Judge, Presidential voting analyzed – who got write-in ballots
By John T. Ryan
Most people would probably agree that the most interesting local political contest in the November elections was the race for Clinton County Family Court Judge. Nationally, the Presidential race will go down in history and Clinton County voters did their part to elect Barrack Obama to office.
Sitting Family Court Judge Timothy Lawliss (Republican) was opposed by William Meconi (Democrat). A massive letter-writing campaign was waged on the editorial page of the Press Republican. Voters favoring Meconi portrayed Judge Lawliss as difficult to work with and unfair in his decision-making. Lawliss and his supporters supporters responded portraying him as the most highly qualified candidate and as a judge who places the welfare of children above all else. When the votes were counted Lawliss defeated Meconi 17,206 (55%) to 14,145 (45%).
Lawliss won forty-eight of the fifty-four voting districts outside the City of Plattsburgh. He was very strong in the Northern Tier with 62% of the votes cast in Mooers and 61.9% in Champlain. In his hometown of Peru he garnered 61.4% of the vote. Meconi, who grew up in or near the Towns of Black Brook and Au Sable, garnered 56% of the votes cast in Black Brook, but he didn’t carry a single district in the Town of Au Sable receiving only 45% of the votes cast. He did much better in the heavily Democratic City of Plattsburgh where he carried thirteen of the city’s sixteen districts and won 3,125 to 2,719.
In the Presidential race, the Obama-Biden ticket defeated the McCain-Palin ticket 20,216 to 12,579 carrying every Clinton County district with the exception of Peru Dist #3 where McCain-Palin won 282 to 272. The Obama-Biden margin was overwhelming in the City of Plattsburgh where the ticket won 5,079 to 2,152. In Ward 1, District 3, for example, Obama-Biden won 63 to 10. In Ward 6, District 3 Obama-Biden won 246 to 83.
There were twenty-five write-in ballots for the office of President of the United States. The following people received write-in votes:
Ron Paul – 4 votes
Alan Keyes – 1 vote
Bill Cosby – 1 vote
Pat Buchanan – 1 vote
Hillary Rodham Clinton – 9 votes
Odd Thomas – 1 vote in Peru
Jackass Higgins – 1 vote in Peru
Wm (Bill) Meconi – 1 vote in Peru
John Lahtinen – 1 vote in Peru
Robert (Bob) Johnson – 1 vote in Peru
Tom Galisano – 1 vote in Peru
John Burnell – 1 vote in Peru
Donald Kasprzak – 1 vote in Schuyler Falls
Chuck Baldwin – 1 vote in the City of Plattsburgh
Posted: December 29th, 2008 under General News.