Ulster County � While many are saying that Illinois Senator Barack Obama's win of the White House this year over Arizona Senator John McCain represents a historic moment in our nation, so too are the residents of Ulster County experiencing an important moment in their history of democracy. The first ever County Executive has been selected as current County Administrator, Democrat Michael Hein, who ran against Independent Len Bernardo, who ran under the Republican ticket.

The results of the county's elections will remain unofficial for the next two weeks while county officials look into absentee ballots and affidavit votes, but the margin between Hein and Bernardo was wide enough so that a reasonable prediction of Hein as the winner can be made. As of 11:19 p.m. on Tuesday night, Hein had received 41,987 votes, while Bernardo received 31,907, a difference of a little more than 10,000 votes, or 13%.

The vote breakdown within the Village of Ellenville and the Town of Wawarsing shows that Hein took Ellenville 704 to 467, while Bernardo won the town's non-village residents 1,273 to 1,157.

The county's race for Comptroller, however, is not nearly so neat and tidy. Along with the County Executive seat, this is the first year Ulster County is seeing a race for Comptroller as well, and based on the results from the county's board of elections, we may be waiting at least a week or two before a clear winner is decided.

As of 11:19 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the race between Ellenville's Village Manager, Democrat Elliott Auerbach, and Republican James Quigley is still too close to call, with a difference of 585 votes, which is less than a 1% margin between the two. Auerbach received 36,036 votes, or 49.59%, whereas Quigley has him edged out with 36,621 votes, or 50.04% of the 72,657 ballots counted thus far.

According to Ulster County Board of Elections Commissioner Tom Turco, there are still 3,101 absentee ballots to count, not including the ballots which have until November 12 (since November 11 is Veteran's Day, and the post office will be closed) to arrive � as long as they've got a postmark of no later than November 3. Furthermore, the affidavit ballots, which consist of voters who are not in the registration books, have to be investigated and counted as well, meaning that the seat for Comptroller is still very much up for grabs.

The breakdown in Auerbach's home turf of Ellenville and Wawarsing, however, seems to favor Republican Quigley based on the votes already counted. Both the village and the town went to Quigley, though the margin in Ellenville was much closer than that of outside the village's borders. Ellenville's districts 1 through 4 gave Quigley 653 votes, whereas Auerbach received 625, a difference of only 28 votes, a difference of only 2%, and a reflection of the county-wide results thus far. As for the rest of Wawarsing's 12 districts which lie outside of the village, Quigley won handily with 1,598 versus Auerbach's 977, a difference of 621 votes, or 24%.

As of now, it's anybody's game, but we'll know who won the first Ulster County Comptroller's seat in weeks to come.

The race for the Town Justice position in Wawarsing, likewise, cannot be projected based on the votes collected at this point, though they seem to point to a win for Republican Candidate Charlie Dechon. According to the votes tallied so far, Dechon has collected 2,025 votes, 156 more than Democrat Julie Lonstein who has received 1,869, a 4% margin. In the Village of Ellenville, Lonstein has received 645 votes, edging out Dechon's 644 by only one vote. Outside the village, however, is where Dechon may have secured victory, with 1,381 votes over Lonstein's 1,224.

Like the Comptroller race, the devil will be in the details of the absentee ballots, of which 353 have so far been received by the Ulster County Board of Elections, says Jay Mahler with the board. She says that a total of 435 absentee ballots were requested for the entire Town of Wawarsing, which leaves 82 remaining ballots to make their way to Kingston by November 12 with November 3 postmarks.

The village's race for Village Justice, however, has a clear winner. Democrat Matt Parker has been re-elected to his seat as the Village Justice over political newcomer Republican Dan Johnson. The incumbent, who has held the seat for 14 years, defeated Johnson handily, with 806 votes over his challenger's 387, a difference of 419, or a margin of 35%.

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