Challenger in District 6 of Lewis County wins seat

LOWVILLE — The challenger for the District 6 seat on the Lewis County Legislature is the apparent victor.

Democrat Paul M. Stanford has unofficially defeated Legislator Joyce E. Hoch, R-Watson, by a 326-321 vote.

The vote remains the same as when absentee and affidavit votes were counted Thursday afternoon, since no more military votes came in since then. The deadline for acceptance of military ballots was Tuesday.

Owing to the narrow margin, county election officials next Wednesday plan to conduct a manual recount of the District 6 race before declaring the results official.

A victory by Mr. Stanford would double his party's representation on the 10-member board. Eighth-year Legislator John O. Boyd, D-New Bremen, who was re-elected by voters again this year, has been the lone Democrat on the board since 2006.