A nail-biter in Riverhead: Results remain up in the air Tuesday night

(Updated- Nov. 5, 7:45 a.m.) With all 22 districts reporting this morning, challenger Jerry Halpin’s lead over incumbent Tim Hubbard has expanded to 21 votes. See story: Halpin expands razor-thin lead over Hubbard with returns from two late-reporting election districts

(Updated- Nov. 5, 1:20 a.m.) With returns from two central Riverhead election districts still outstanding, the races for Riverhead town supervisor and two council seats remain up in the air.

Supervisor candidate Jerry Halpin (D-Riverhead) leads incumbent Supervisor Tim Hubbard (R-Aquebogue) by six votes, while incumbent council members Bob Kern and Ken Rothwell are leading challengers Mark Woolley and Kevin Shea, according to unofficial results posted online Tuesday night by the Suffolk County Board of Elections. 

All three races are close enough that the two election districts still outstanding will determine their outcome. Both outstanding districts have substantial numbers of active voters, according to county enrollment data. 

The districts where returns are still missing are election districts 12 and 22. In 2023, the last election for town offices, there were 746 votes cast in Election District 12 and 440 votes cast in Election District 22. The number of eligible active voters in both districts is much higher than the number of voters who typically go to the polls in town elections.

Election night results in contested town races

With 20 of 22 election districts reporting, according to the Suffolk Board of Elections results posted online:

Supervisor:

Jerry Halpin 3,782
Tim Hubbard 3,776

Town council:

Bob Kern 3,807
Ken Rothwell 3,734
Mark Woolley 3,663
Kevin Shea 3,361

The reported results include absentee ballots received as of Tuesday and mail-in early voting ballots, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections website.

Shortly before 11:30 p.m., Halpin addressed the crowd at Smitty’s All-American Grill at the All-Star bowling alley in Riverhead, where Democrats had gathered for a watch party. 

He said the results wouldn’t be known until tomorrow and said good night. Smitty’s would be closing at 11:30, Halpin said. 

Riverhead Town Democratic Committee Chairperson Laura Jens-Smith said the races are too close to call and none of the party’s candidates would be conceding.

Riverhead Republican Committee Chairperson Tammy Robinkoff said the same thing to the gathering of the Republican Party faithful at Stonewall’s grill room at Cherry Creek golf course in Riverhead. She later said the Board of Elections has advised her that the two outstanding election districts were having trouble uploading data but it should be completed within an hour.

Robinkoff subsequently announced that the results in the two outstanding districts would not be available until Wednesday morning.

Hubbard declined comment Tuesday night. He said he would have a statement once all the results are in.

Council Member Bob Kern expressed concern about the fate of projects he’s working on should he not be re-elected.

“The worst part of an election is that I have there or four very important projects that I’m working on and I’d like to see them through,” Kern said. “Two months left is not going to bring them all to where they need to be. New people might not do anything with them or understand where they’re at. That’s my concern,” he said. “I came her to serve the people and — it’s kind of like you’re building something and then… ”

Emil Breitenbach Jr. contributed reporting.

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This is a developing story. It will be updated as more information becomes available.