Pekarek, Samwick and Veron Elected to Serve as Village Trustees

The candidates, friends and families waited until 11:30 pm on Tuesday night to find out the results of a most unusual election in Scarsdale. The contest brought long lines of voters to Village Hall and delays in processing caused some to wait more than half an hour to vote and voting hours to be extended beyond the 9 pm deadline.

In the end, Deb Pekarek and Marc Samwick, two trustees who had served first terms were re-elected and Jane Veron was chosen to serve her first term as Village Trustee. Also elected was Village Justice Joaquin Alemany.

Here are the counts - including votes on the absentee ballots:

Village Trustee (3 Positions)

Deb Pekarek 334
Marc Samwick 407
Jane Veron 498

Village Justice
Joaquin Alemany 554

A total of 684 voters came to Village Hall and another 50 absentee ballots were received. Though Seth Ross, received the nomination for Village Trustee from the Citizen's Non-Partisan Party, due to a paperwork problem his name did not appear on the ballot and he lost his bid for the job, receiving 179 votes. Considering that Pekarek's name had to be written-in on the ballot, she received an impressive number of votes.

Why the high turnout? Most years, the election brings out fewer than 250 voters as the candidates that are selected by the CNC run in an uncontested election. In 2015 when Mayor Jon Mark was elected, only 210 votes were cast. However this year, the ballot for Village Trustee had two pre-printed names and a blank space for a write-in vote. The Village Clerk opted not to use electronic voting machines due to the expense, leaving election officials to spend hours hand-counting the paper ballots.

In January, many were surprised when first term trustee Deb Pekarek was not re-nominated by the Citizen's Nominating Committee to serve a second term. A few weeks later the Village Clerk announced that due to a failure to file the necessary paperwork before the February 16 deadline, Seth Ross, who was nominated by the Scarsdale Citizens' Nominating Committee (CNC) to serve as Scarsdale Village Trustee would not appear on the printed ballot.

That left the election in play when voters were given a choice of whose name to write-in in the open spot. Many felt that Pekarek should have been selected by the CNC and decided to give her their vote for a second term. Others backed the CNC nominee Seth Ross. The overall tone of the election was civil. Some candidates sent emails reminding friends to vote and campaigned in public venues but there was no rancor. In fact many who attended a reception at the Scarsdale Woman's Club following the election voiced support for all the candidates – and when the results were announced many asked Ross to consider the position again next year.

Commenting on the results, Jane Veron said, "I am honored and appreciate everyone's support. I am excited to serve." Deb Pekarek said, "I am thrilled to be able to serve. Now we can all get back to work. The turnout was robust and I want to express a heartfelt thanks to everyone who voted. I hope to see Seth return next year. He would be a wonderful member of any board and I hope he will continue to be involved in Village activities." Marc Samwick said, I am proud to be able to serve a second term and continue to work on issues we began and challenges that face the Village."

The final counts from the Village Clerk also show many miscellaneous votes:

Here they are:

Village Trustee:
Bob Harrison 6
Robert Berg 3
Mark Roth 2
Douglas Ulene 1
Farley Baker 1
Neil Kanner 1
Mona Longman 1
Jeff Koswalski 1
Kathy Steves 1
Chris Martin 1
Thomas Martin 1
Ross Theal 1
John Bensche 1
Donald Trump 1

Village Justice:
Deborah Pekarek 3
Jeffrey Levin 2
John Leslie 1
Jack Shemtab 1
Marianne Kaplan 1

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