Wednesday, April 10, 2024
At the special runoff election held on Tuesday, April 9th, for a Trustee position with a 1-year term, the following results were filed with the Village Clerk by the election inspectors following the close of polls:
William C. Schroeder – 374 votes
David Santoro – 362 votes
As required by law, since the margin was less than 20 votes, the Village Clerk called for a physical recount of the ballots by the Erie County Board of Elections. This recount was completed this afternoon and confirmed the results listed above with no changes. The final results were then reviewed and certified by the Village of Lancaster Board of Trustees at a special meeting held at 3:00 p.m. at the Lancaster Municipal Building. Following the special meeting, the certified results were filed with the Village Clerk after which time Mr. Schroeder’s term of office as Trustee was effective immediately.
Thank you to everyone who came out to vote during both the March 19th special election and April 9th runoff election.
Monday, March 25, 2024
The Erie County Board of Elections Bi-Partisan Team met this afternoon, March 25th, to recount the physical ballots from last week’s special election which resulted in a tie with 248 votes for David Santoro and William C. Schroeder. Both candidates were in attendance during the recanvass. Following the recount of ballots, it was confirmed by the Erie County Board of Elections that the results remained the same at 248 votes each. The write-in votes were also reviewed with 32 votes counted for Joseph Lista.
As a result of the tie between Mr. Santoro and Mr. Schroeder, there will be a runoff election on Tuesday, April 9, 2024, as prescribed by Village Election Law. This election will take place at the Lancaster Municipal Building, 5423 Broadway, during the hours from 12:00 noon until 9:00 p.m. The ballot for this runoff election will only include the names of David Santoro and William C. Schroeder. There will be no write in votes allowed as the runoff election is only between the 2 candidates who were tied in votes.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024- 2:00p.m.
After consultation with the Erie County Board of Elections, the recanvass of ballots from the election will occur on Monday, March 25th. The schedule was discussed with both candidates, and they were in agreement with this date. The results of the recanvass will be presented to the Village Board at its regular meeting on Monday night at 7:00 p.m. at which time they will determine if a winner has been declared. If the vote remains a tie, then a runoff election will be scheduled for Tuesday, April 9, 2024. Further details will be provided at a later time if there needs to be a runoff election.
Please note, it was decided not to hold the recanvass this week due to a potential conflict surrounding the Presidential Primary election being held on April 2nd. Based on election law that requires a runoff election to be held on the first Tuesday following 10 days after the vote is certified, if the recanvass was held this week and the vote remains a tie, the runoff election would be required to be held on April 2nd which may create confusion for voters with different elections being held at different polling locations on the same day. To avoid this potential conflict if the vote remains tied, the recanvass was scheduled for next week on Monday which moves a runoff election to the following week on April 9th, if necessary.
We will post the results of the recanvass here on Monday afternoon or early Tuesday morning. Thank you.
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
A special election was held on Tuesday, March 19th for one (1) Trustee position with one (1) year remaining on its term. Following a canvass of the ballots, David Santoro and William C. Schroeder were tied with 248 votes each. There were also 30 write-in votes. The Erie County Board of Elections will be conducting a recanvass of the ballots to determine if a winner may be declared following a physical inspection of the ballots. Both candidates or their designated representative will be present during this process. Further information will be provided following completion of the recanvass.