Southampton board member Lofstad’s total reaches 61 percent

Southampton’s new Democratic town board member, Julie Lofstad, widened her winning share of the vote in last month’s special election to 60.59 percent when absentee ballots were added to the final count.

The Suffolk Board of Elections certified final results with Lofstad winning 3,090 votes to 2,014, or 39.41 percent, for Republican Richard Yastrzemski. In the final tally, Lostad increased her lead by 26 votes.

The bulk of Lofstad’s winning margin came from minor parties. She received 495 votes on the Independence Party line and 398 on the Conservative ballot line. In a rare move, Conservatives gave their backing to Lofstad as part of an ongoing battle to oust Suffolk GOP Chairman John Jay LaValle.