Peo wins Ogdensburg district's special election

Vicky M. Peo won Tuesday's special Ogdensburg City School District election, claiming the final seat on the Board of Education.

Mrs. Peo, a former board member, beat board President John J. Wilson 673-584. District Clerk April Moore said there are 16 absentee ballots.

Mrs. Peo's term is for three years.

"I'm very excited. I want to thank everyone who went out to vote for me. It means a lot to me that all of these people took time out of their schedules to vote today," she said. "I'm looking forward to being back on the school board to be an advocate for the taxpayers, students and staff members."

The special election is believed to be the first-ever tie-breaker election in the history of the Ogdensburg Board of Education election process.

On May 19, Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Peo tied and an absentee ballot in favor of Mrs. Peo was ruled ineligible because the voter died just before the election. There were nine candidates for three seats on the board. Ronald N. Johnson and Betty J. Mallott were the other two winners.

Tuesday's election drew 1,257 votes from the nearly 11,000 people in the Ogdensburg district who are eligible to vote.

Mrs. Peo said she was impressed by the turnout and thanked those who supported her.

"The turnout was fantastic. It was a very large turnout," she said. "I would also like to thank my family and friends who helped make phone calls, wrote letters to the editor and placed signs in their yards."

Mr. Wilson was unavailable for comment Tuesday night. He has been a member of the school board for almost 15 years.

School officials have said the special election would cost approximately $1,500, covering the cost of legal advertising leading up to the vote and salaries for the election inspectors and machine custodian.