With most of the local elections in the area not holding much national appeal or local suspense, the biggest issues that faced Ulster County voters was the adoption of a charter form of government, the election of a new Ulster County Sheriff and the race for State Senator.

And with nearly all of the districts reporting in as of press time, is seems like the Ulster County Charter will pass, if only by a few hundred votes. With 162 districts out of 164 reporting in, the vote count was YES � 18,164 to NO � 17,447.

Sheriff Paul Van Blarcum routed opponent Kevin Costello for the Ulster County Sheriff position with a vote count of 35, 409 to 19, 458.

And while Senator John J. Bonacic will be returning to the New York State Senate, Ms. Zimet did claim a win in Ulster County as she narrowly beat out Bonacic in the county vote. The 42nd District spans parts of Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties. While Ms. Zimet earned a slight win in Ulster, both Sullivan and Orange went heavily for Senator Bonacic.

In other regional election news, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill (D-101), Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-22) both won easily with no opposition.

Eliot Spitzer succeeded in his bid for governor while Andrew Cuomo attained the post of Attorney General over Jeanine Pirro.

As of press time, several races throughout the country remain too close to call as Democrats are seeking to take back both the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as governorships from the Republican majority. It appears likely that Democrats will retake the House of Representatives but will lose in their bid to retake the Senate.

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