POUGHKEEPSIE – The battle for Dutchess County Court Judge between incumbent Judge Peter Forman, a Republican and Democrat Jessica Segal is not over yet.
On Tuesday night, unofficial results from the Dutchess County Board of Elections (BOE) had Judge Forman leading by 8,299 votes, having garnered 59,691 votes to Segal’s 51,392.
Forman and Segal had gone to court in August in a battle to determine which candidate would appear on the Independence party line. Forman eventually won the battle and received 1,190 votes on that line on Tuesday.
With 28,511 absentee ballots received by the BOE as of Tuesday night, the race is still undecided. Of those paper ballots, 14,765 are from Democrats, 6,699 are from voters with no party affiliation, and 5,284 were returned from registered Republicans. The remaining 1,763 votes are from third-party registrations.
On Tuesday night, Judge Forman said “After a hard-fought campaign, I’m am so grateful for the tremendous support we’ve received from the community. I am up by a comfortable margin. With absentee ballots left to count, I’m cautiously optimistic.” Forman acknowledged his supporters, saying “Thank you to everyone who played such an important role to help get us where we are.”
Segal shared the same cautious optimism regarding her candidacy on Wednesday morning. “I will fight to make sure that every ballot is opened and counted. It’s important that the voters’ voices be heard,” said the first-time candidate and former prosecutor. “I am excited about what we have been able to accomplish with the help of our volunteers and voters.”
