After absentee votes were counted, the Board of Elections has announced that Mattituck attorney Bill Goggins swept the recent three-primary, winning the Independence, Republican and Conservative lines in the upcoming November election for an empty town justice seat.
The Board of Elections said today that on the GOP line, Goggins received 566 votes and challenger Eileen Powers, 434.
On the Conservative line, Goggins garnered 41 votes, Powers, 26, and Brian Hughes, who has the Southold Town Democratic Committee nomination for town justice, received 9.
After the initial vote on Primary Day, Powers had taken the Independence line by only one vote, in a squeaker too close to call. With absentee votes counted, Goggins received 31 votes, Powers, 26, and Hughes, 16.
The Board of Elections said the results are still considered unofficial until they are certified at the end of the week.
After the primary vote, GOP committee chair Peter McGreevy said Powers called Goggins to concede the Republican and Conservative races.
“Bill and Eileen both ran very strong campaigns, after which the voters decided their preferred candidate. We look forward to November, and know that Bill Goggins will be an asset to our town’s justice court,” McGreevy told SoutholdLOCAL after the vote.
“I feel good,” Goggins said, after the primary. “We put a lot of effort into it and a lot of people came out to support us, so we’re really happy. We feel blessed. It’s humbling.” He added that the goal was to win all three lines.
The outpouring of support meant a great deal, Goggins said. “I litigate, and it’s tough. You don’t always make friends when you go through a trial.”
Some speculated that the numbers at polls were lower than usual on primary day, due to the deluge of rain that left the North Fork with downed limbs and lines, power outages, and heavy flooding.
Goggins was nominated by the GOP as their candidate for the November election.
In June local attorney Eileen Powers announced that she would wage a primary for the town justice seat on the GOP, Conservative and Independence lines.
The candidates are running for the position currently held by Justice Rudy Bruer, who will retire this year.
