KINGSTON – The latest, and possibly last, twist in the story of the race for Ulster County Comptroller has hit: as of Monday this week, Democratic candidate and Ellenville Village Manager Elliott Auerbach is the unofficial winner over Republican and Kingston-native James Quigley by a mere 150 votes — an ultra-thin margin of 0.19% of the 78,056 votes cast.

While last month's election results pointed toward a win for Quigley with 650 more votes than his competitor, the Ulster County Board of Elections set to work recounting the results because of the close race, and also began looking at the then-yet uncounted absentee ballots.

While the race's results are still unofficial, Election Commissioner Tom Turco expressed a fair amount of certainty when discussing the results of this latest recount.

"Usually on a recount like this, because it's been recounted so many times already, you may find one or two items or votes here or there, but nothing of the magnitude of a 150 vote difference," he said on Monday. "You want everyone feeling comfortable that the number is what it is, the winner is who it is."

The final recount began on Wednesday, and is expected to take between three to five days, considerably less time than the last. So, why will the count this time around go so much quicker?

"You don't have to open all the envelopes," explained Turco.

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