Judge sets hearings on disputed Brookhaven elections

A State Supreme Court judge has set a date next week to begin two hearings regarding disputed elections in the Town of Brookhaven.

Justice Carol MacKenzie set the date yesterday during a scheduling conference, according to Jared A. Kasschau, the attorney for incumbent town board member Democrat Connie Kepert.

The judge will rule on the validity of 48 ballots cast in the 4th District council race between Kepert and Republican challenger Michael Loguercio Jr., when that hearing begins on Dec. 3 in State Supreme Court in Central Islip.

Also that day Mackenzie will oversee a hearing on disputed ballots in the close contest for 6th District Court judge between Democrat Chris A. Kelley and Conservative Barbara Lynaugh. In unofficial results, Lynaugh led Kelley by 422 votes.

“I don’t know if the cases have been formally joined but they are related and are tracking one another,” Kasschau said.