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As election results filtered in late Tuesday night, former Depew Building Inspector Michael Wozniak and veteran Lancaster Councilwoman Dawn Gaczewski came within 200 votes (1%) of each other in the race for the tie-breaking Lancaster town council seat. That seat will play a crucial role in breaking a 2-2 deadlock on the four-member Lancaster Town Board.
Elsewhere, Rep. Chris Jacobs, R-Orchard Park, declared victory as returns showed a clear lead against Democratic challenger Nate McMurray in the race for New York's 27th congressional district. Late Tuesday night, McMurray told supporters he wasn't going to concede.
Across Lancaster and Depew, packed lines during early voting thinned out on Tuesday -- a reality of election patterns during Covid-19. Voters speaking to the Sun at the polls varied in their views: Some saw Election Day as an opportunity to reverse the outcome of the 2016 presidential election while others stuck to their support of President Donald Trump donning car accessories.
Tuesday marked the last opportunity for Lancaster voters to cast their ballots for the tie-breaking seat on the town board, as well as a rematch of the June special election in New York’s 27th congressional district and a contested race for a seat in the State Assembly.
As of midnight Wednesday, Wozniak led Gaczewski by only 190 votes (1%) with 100% of districts reporting and 4,261 ballots yet to be counted. Since the board took office Jan. 1, they have deadlocked a number of times, with Supervisor Ron Ruffino and Councilman Dave Mazur serving as one bloc, and Councilmen Bob Leary and Adam Dickman the other. Ruffino is the board’s lone Democrat, but Mazur, a registered Republican, ran last November with Democratic support and has sided with Ruffino on most issues.
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