Jacobsen Leads in Independence Party Primary; Board's Write-in Results Unavailable

Incumbent Bedford Town Justice Erik Jacobsen is leading in his primary bid for the Independence Party line, according to unofficial results from the Westchester County Board of Elections.

Results show that Jacobsen, the Republicans' candidate, is leading Democratic challenger Judy Aydelott by 68 votes to 29 with 16 out of 18 districts accounted for.  

Aydelott, along with fellow Democrats running for the town board and town clerk's office, received the Independence Party's endorsement earlier this year, which gave them the line by default in absence of a primary.

Jacobsen, along with Republican Supervisor candidate Don Scott and incumbent Town Clerk Boo Fumagalli, were able to force a primary for the party. Scott and Fumagalli, who got primary challenges through a process called Opportunity to Ballot, had to run as write-in candidates while Jacobsen did not due to a difference in state law for judicial elections. 

Meanwhile, the full slates from both parties ran in primaries for the Conservative Party line, with Republican candidates' named having been printed on ballots because they received the party's endorsement. Democrats have to mount write-in efforts.

There is no data available from the board of elections for the races that involve write-ins, with the board's results website not including write-in numbers in the tallies.

While there are no board numbers available, campaign officials from both slates told Patch that the Democrats were ahead in the write-in contests for the Independence line, based on preliminary internal data that they had.