Judicial primary winners already had other ballot lines

The judicial primaries in Nassau County have put four Republican and three Democratic candidates on the Independence party line in November.

All the judicial candidates who ran will appear on the November ballot as Republicans or Democrats, regardless of whether they won or lost Tuesday night. The results won't be certified until next week, but Rick Bellando, chairman of the Nassau County Independence Party, said he had not heard of any challenges to Tuesday night's results, which showed clear winners.

Bellando said the mix of Republicans and Democrats on the Independence party ticket was "pretty evenly split."

"We're more in the center," Bellando said.

Unofficial results showed Republican Joy M. Watson soundly beating her Democratic opponent Anna M. Grimaldi in the primary with 76.4 percent of the Independence party vote, compared with 23.6 percent. Watson, appointed to the Second District bench nine months ago, is running for a Second District judgeship in Nassau, and Grimaldi is a court attorney referee at Queens County Supreme Court.

"Whenever you have the support of another significant party and an additional line for voters to come out to support you on, it increases your chances of being successful," Watson said. Grimaldi, who is on the Democratic, Working Families and Green party lines, said she was confident of winning in November despite not getting on the Independence line.

"Every line is important but in going forward the voters are going to choose the best candidate regardless of what line they're on," she said.

Patricia A. Harrington and David P. Sullivan who are running on the Republican and Conservative lines for county court won the Independence line, beating out David J. Ayres and David I. Levine.

Erica L. Prager, Scott H. Siller and David Goodsell, who are running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, won the Independence party line for the Third District court, beating out Elizabeth Berney, Lesli P. Hiller and Frank A. Doddato.

Republican candidate Rhonda Erin Fischer beat Democratic candidate Marc Laykind on both the Independence and Green party lines, according to unofficial results for the Fourth District court.