[UPDATE] Peekskill, Cortlandt Election Hub: Partial Results In, Wagner Says Race to close to call

Update, 1:30 a.m., Nov. 6:

Ball Declare Victory; Wagner Says too Early to Tell

John Wagner's camp released a statement saying his race with state Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, is too close to call, describing Ball's declaration of victory as 'bizzarre and inaccurate.

"The race is too close to call," said Steve Napier, Wagner's campaign manager. "While all of the traditionally high-performing Republican areas have been fully counted, results in much of the traditionally Democratic areas of Westchester County have yet to be reported. We will pursue a full and fair count of all ballots, and we are confident that in the end Justin Wagner will be seated in the New York State Senate."

Ball took both Putnam and Dutchess counties, according to unofficial results. But Wagner still had a lead in Westchester County Tuesday night.

"It is one thing to make promises every two years, it is another thing entirely to deliver results. Working with Governor Cuomo, in a bipartisan way, I have delivered. In just two years we have repealed the MTA payroll tax, capped property taxes and cut income taxes across the board,” said Senator Greg Ball. “In the next two years I will continue my independent voting record and lead the fight to create good paying local jobs, deliver real and lasting tax relief, freeze school taxes for seniors, and reign in our unaccountable utilities. I’m glad the campaign is over, and ready to get back to work.” 

Carvin Concedes to Lowey

Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin, the Republican challenger in the 17th Congressional District, has conceded to Democratic incumbent Nita Lowey, our sister site Rye Patch reports.

The 17th District includes Peekskill and Cortlandt.

Izzarelli Bows Out to Galef

New York State Assembly Candidate Kim Izzarelli said, "I'd like to thank all of the people who supported me and I would like them to know I will continue my work in public service. I hope to continue the path I started to carve, and continue the structural work that needs to be done, in local education particularly."

With 84 percent of precincts reporting in Westchester County, Sandy Galef has 71 percent of the vote to Izzarelli's 29 percent.

Assemblywoman Sandy Galef said she is "very excited about the results" and reflected on her campaign, stating "it really ended last Monday with the hurricane, so it was a very unique campaign."

As she prepares to enter her 12th term, Galef, a Democrat, said storm-related issues are still on the forefront of her mind.

"I think we are going to work right now on storm relief issues and trying to help people trying to access federal and state aid if they had tremendous damages, which some individuals as well as businesses did," she said. "Also, we are going to be addressing issues that came up with the hurricane and how we protect ourselves in the future."

Going forward, the Assemblywoman said providing mandate relief to coincide with the tax cap is essential. Another priority—looking into shared services.

Reflecting on this year's campaign, Galef noted how costly running for office has become.

"There are so many ads on television, so many robo-calls...so many expenditures and the average person can't run for office any longer," she said. "It's not really the type of representative government we want."

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Update, 10 p.m., Nov. 6:

The polls have now closed and everybody is now waiting for the results to come.

At Cortlandt town hall, elections workers moving along fine despite the occasional paper jam in the voting machine. Workers said they had more than 400 votes at about 5:30 p.m. and that was before the evening rush of voters came in.

The parking lot of the Muriel H. Morabito Community Center in Cortlandt was also flush with activity after 7 p.m, as people rushing to get their votes in.

At the Michael J. DiBart Neighborhood Center in Peekskill, things slowed down considerably during the evening. But there was still a good number of stragglers making their way inside.

Michael Bryant said he voted Barack Obama in the presidential election. 

"He came into a mess and he needs four more years to clean it up," Bryant said.

Umberto Sanchez of Peekskill agreed.

"I'd like to see him stay four more years," Sanchez said.

Update, 3:30 pm., Nov. 6:

Things have slowed down at the Michael J. DiBart Neighborhood Center in Peekskill, the locations designted for residents in districts 1 and 2 to cast their ballots.

But Barbara Smith, one of the election inspectors at the center expected things to pick up again this evening. A litte more than 170 people voted in each district as of 2:20 p.m. 

Smith said she has had soldiers from Camp Smith and people from a far south as Brooklyn stop by to fill in affidavit ballots today.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order allowing voters who can't make it to their normal polling place to cast ballots at any polling site in the state. 

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As our attention turns from Sandy to Election Day, stay with Patch for live updates on all-things political.

Our Election Hub will house information and updates on the candidates, races, polling places and more. And when the voting stations close at 9 p.m. Tuesday, we'll be posting the results as they come in.

Local races and results:

U.S. House of Representatives, District 17 (84 Percent of districts counted)

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New York State Senate, District 40

* Justin Wagner leads in Westchester but Greg Ball leads overall with combined Putnam, Dutchess and Westchester vote (85 percent of districts reporting)

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New York State Assembly, District 95(84 percent of districts reporting)

19,517