Manna, Marlette, Weinstein win board seats; Anderson has narrow lead

Election night proved stressful for a few candidates in the Town of Amherst as the voting totals started coming in.

But for Dr. Barry Weinstein winning a seat on the Amherst Town Board was no sweat. He received 17,194 votes and was declared a winner Tuesday night just a few hours after the polls closed.

"I'm overwhelmed I really appreciate what everyone has done to help me win," he said from Amherst Republican headquarters Tuesday.

Weinstein added that he had voters come up to him, saying they had never voted for a Republican but voted for him.

Joining him, and claiming victory in his second attempt for a seat on the Town Board, was Guy Marlette, who ran on the Republican and Conservative lines. He received 15,727 votes.

Marlette attempted to win a seat two years and was unsuccessful. He said the victory was thanks to campaigning with a clear message and having better name recognition.

Democrat Mark Manna spoiled the Republicans slate by defeating Roy Wixson. Manna  also had the Conservative and Working Families lines and recorded 14,004 votes.

Wixson received 12,214; Jerry Schad had 11,417; Robert Foladare had 9,022; and incumbent Bill Kindel was the low vote getting with 3,181. 

The closest town race of the night was between Highway Superintendent Bob Anderson and challenger Kathy Kaminski. According to the Erie County Board of Elections, Anderson has 51 percent of votes, 15,012, to Kaminski's 14,669. A victory had not been declared as of Wednesday morning.

Absentee ballots still have to be counted and a decision may not be known until later in the week.

Incumbent Susan Jaros easily reclaimed her seat as Town Clerk as she defeated Jeffery Marion, 17,589 to 10,176.

Incumbent Geoffrey Klein was the only candidate for Town Justice. He received 26,255 votes.

All three propositions on the town's ballot failed. The first, the open space bond resolution for $12 million, failed by a vote of 8,268  to 13,618. The second,  a bond resolution for $3.1 million for the  Audubon Golf Course, failed, 7,343 votes to 13,683. The third, to create a local law requiring the deputy supervisor be a member of the town board. also failed, 9,058 to 12,166.

The new face of the Erie County Legislative District 15 is Edward Rath III. He was named the winner shortly after the polls closed, defeated Cheryl Whitehead, 9,815 to 5,211.

In District 4 incumbent Michael Razenhofer defeated Alan Bedenko, 11,665 to 4,522; and in District 14 incumbent Tom Loughran defeated Bradley Rowles, 8,767 to 5,373.

Republican Chris Collins dominated in the race for Erie County executive, defeating Democrat James Keane but a vote of 134,284 to 73,505.

Amherst Town Board member Bill O'Loughlin failed in his attempt to earn the county clerk's seat, losing to incumbent Kathy Hochul by a vote of 128,486 to 63,791.

Results are available at www.erieboe.com.