After a heated and up-to-the-minute write-in race for one open seat on the Greenport Board of Election Tuesday, lifelong Greenport resident Kirsten Droskoski came out on top.
Of the three top vote-garnering write-in candidates, Droskoski won with 56 votes.
“I’ve thought about running in the past and never followed through,” said Droskoski. “I got a lot of phone calls from neighbors and people from school. I’m a local, I’ve lived here my whole life. I felt I had the support. I was still nervous, but on Saturday, I decided. I didn’t have too much notice.”
Droskoski, who has two children in the district and one who’s graduated, said her main focus is to keep programs such as sports in place for the kids. “There are a lot of things dwindling, like the reading program, and I want to make sure everything stays up to snuff. My main goal is to keep the kids happy. I’m all for the kids.”
According to District Clerk Jessie Kemp, the five-member board had one open seat after incumbent Lisa Murray opted not to run again, and no other candidate formally stepped up with a petition to officially enter the race.
With the seat open, a number of potential write-in candidates spread the word, either on websites or by utilizing social media, that they were seeking the position. After the votes were tallied, write-in candidate Jason O’Dell came in with 51 votes, just five fewer than Droskoski’s 56 votes. Former BOE member, Michael Mazzaferro, who stepped down last year, garnered 41. It was not immediately clear how many votes other write-in candidates Angela Drinkwater or Rosalie Rung received.
