Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown had twice as many absentee votes as India B. Walton, but it was not enough to overcome her lead in the Democratic primary for mayor.
Walton picked up 505 absentee votes, while Brown had 1,002, according to the Erie County Board of Elections, which counted the absentee ballots Wednesday.
The absentee vote cut Walton's lead to 1,010.
Neither campaign expressed surprise Wednesday over the absentee ballot count.
“The final results confirmed what we expected, that I have won over the voters and am now the Democratic Party nominee for mayor of Buffalo,” Walton said through her spokesman, Seamus Gallivan, in a text message to The News.
Brown, who announced Monday his plans to undertake a write-in campaign for the general election after losing in the Democratic primary to Walton, extolled the value of the democratic process in a statement he issued through his spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge.
People are also reading…
"As I said at my announcement on Monday, I did not expect that the counting of the absentee ballots would change the preliminary results of last Tuesday’s Primary Election. Today that was confirmed," Brown said.
"As I also stated, knowing how important our democratic process is, the General Election in November will decide who will be the next Mayor of the City of Buffalo. For that important reason, and based on the overwhelming support and encouragement I have received since last Tuesday’s Primary, I have made clear my intention to run in November’s General Election as a write-in candidate,” Brown added.
Brown continues to seek a fifth term as mayor of Buffalo, despite losing the Democratic primary race to Walton, a democratic socialist candidate in her first run for office.
Brown's name will not be appearing on any other political party line in the Nov. 2 general election.
The 9,625 votes Brown received on Election Day was the lowest total number of votes he received in four primary elections, which was more than 4,000 votes fewer than he received in 2017 and more than 16,000 fewer than in 2009.
Those results did not include the absentee ballots that were counted by the Board of Elections on Wednesday.
With the addition of the absentee ballot votes, the still-unofficial tally of the primary Election Day race was 11,637 – 10,627 in Walton's favor.
There still are affidavit ballots to be counted, but there are not enough to change the outcome of the race, according to the Board of Elections.
Read the full story by Robert J. McCarthy here.
