Absentee ballot count underway in Old Westbury runoff election for trustee seat

A challenger in a runoff for a Village of Old Westbury trustee seat is leading her opponent after early tallies, but village officials have not counted 268 absentee ballots.

Leslie Fastenberg received 461 votes and incumbent trustee Andrew Weinberg took 212 votes in the runoff Tuesday, Mayor Fred Carillo said. There are 260 absentee ballots that are to be counted and another eight that were ordered preserved by a Nassau State Supreme Court judge because they were delivered less than 10 days before the election.

Weinberg trails Fastenberg by 249 votes. Village officials reported Fastenberg trailing Weinberg in the June 16 election by three votes. However, the village verified a tie -- 178 apiece -- after several court battles and Tuesday's runoff was set.

Fastenberg had waged a surprise write-in campaign, along with Marina Chimerine and Cory Baker, as part of the New Voice of Old Westbury Party. Baker and Chimerine won their races in June, knocking off two incumbent trustees, and have been sworn in to office.

"My hope is they will concede," Fastenberg said in an interview Wednesday. "It has been a brutal, draining, and grueling process for the whole community." She said Tuesday's election "speaks to the fact that people were highly motivated" and eager to "take the village in a new direction."

Steven R. Schlesinger, an attorney for Weinberg, said he had no comment.

A win for Fastenberg in the runoff would give New Voice of Old Westbury power on the five-member board. Carillo, and Deputy Mayor Michael Wolf are members of the Old Westbury Party.

Carillo said he hopes the Nassau County Board of Elections will weigh in on the matter by the end of the week.

By Scott Eidler

scott.eidler@newsday.com@ScottEidler

Scott Eidler is a deputy editor for the towns department at Newsday. Scott has worked at Newsday since 2012 and previously covered municipal government and education.