Denise Sheehan, Republican challenger for the office of Town of Colonie supervisor, officially conceded the race to Democratic incumbent Paula Mahan on Friday, Nov. 18.
“Earlier today, I called Supervisor Mahan to congratulate her on winning a tightly contested and spirited race,” said Sheehan in a statement.
Sheehan had previously refused to concede on Election Night until absentee ballots were counted.
“With a vote margin this close, I felt it was important that the absentee ballot process was carried out to ensure every vote counted and I appreciate everyone’s patience during that process,” said Sheehan.
The Albany County Board of Elections has been canvassing absentee ballots since Wednesday, Nov. 16. Republican Commissioner Rachel L. Bledi said the BOE had not finished counting ballots when Sheehan conceded.
“We only made it through 33 election districts, approximately half of the total number, which is 61,” said Bledi. “Denise was up about 17 absentee ballots but that clearly wasn’t sufficient to overcome the margin of difference.”
On Election Night, Mahan ended up ahead by 296 votes and declared victory. Now that it’s official, Mahan said she’s pleased with the result and understood “everyone has a right to have their vote counted.”
“I’m very happy, very excited that it’s confirmed. We were very confident back on Election Night,” said Mahan. “I’m personally very happy that the campaign is over with, the election is over with and we’ve worked really hard to bring the facts to the people.”
Mahan said she wanted to thank all the residents who supported her.
“…All of the residents that followed things along and believed in the truth and the facts,” said Mahan. “We’re very fortunate to live in such a great town with great people.”
There were 1,238 absentee ballots sent out and as of Election Day, 944 of those had been returned with Democrats returning 287 out 394 sent and Republicans returning 398 out of 494 sent.
Sheehan said she was disappointed but felt good about the campaign she ran.
“I’m proud of the amount of support we received and I’m proud of the issues we brought to light,” said Sheehan.
