It was a long night for Ocean Beach election inspectors, poll watchers, and the candidates themselves, but when all the ballots were counted, the local governing powers remained at the status quo.
The tally collected from the voting machine, absentee, and early ballots combined on June 5 declared the following:
- Mayor James Mallott won over challenging Village Trustee Ian Levine by 408 votes over 239 votes.
- Deputy Mayor Dawn Hargraves garnered 482 votes (the highest count of the evening), Village Trustee Marco Arment retained his seat with 440 votes, and challenger Andrew Hemingway trailed behind with 186 votes.
- Village Court Justice William Wexler retained his seat with 368 votes, over challenger Ali Marin Mitchell, Esq.’s 228 votes.
“This is absolutely amazing to me,” said Kathleen Skelly Kurka, who came from Fair Harbor to serve as an inspector on election day, as she addressed a robust audience who came to watch the ballot count. “I’ve worked local elections where the turnout was absolutely abysmal. You are all to be commended.
