Politics & Government

Updated: Burdick, Gabrielson Returned to Town Board

With 72 percent of votes counted in Bedford, Chris Burdick and David Gabrielson are leading in the race for town board.

Updated, Thursday 10 a.m.

Chris Burdick and David Gabrielson held their leads in the town board race.

The ballots could not be counted after , followed by a county-wide impoundment of all voting machines resulting from a lawuit filed in the closely contested race for Supreme Court Justice, 9th Judicial District.

Find out what's happening in Bedford-Katonahwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Memory cards were collected from the impounded machines and read to complete the counts late Wednesday, according to the county board of elections.

Vander Linden called his opponents Wednesday afternoon, prior to the final tallies being released, to acknowledge he had lost the race and send his congratulations.

Find out what's happening in Bedford-Katonahwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It was unlikely I was going to close the gap," he said, noting that though he did not win, he felt the election made Bedford stronger.  "It has inspired town residents who have never been politically involved to join in the conversation and sparked discussion on issues that matter to town residents. I’m excited to stay active in the town committees on which I serve and the many community organizations that make Bedford a great place to live. And, I especially want to thank everyone who supported my campaign."

With all 18 districts now counted, here are the complete unofficial results: 

Candidate Number of votes Percentage of vote Chris Burdick 2,104 41% David Gabrielson 1,655 33% Luke Vander Linden 1,321 26%

Lee Roberts, who ran unopposed for town supervisor, received 1,849 votes, and Kevin Quaranta, who ran unopposed for town justice, received 1,939 votes.

First story, Wednesday, 12 a.m.

Democrats Chris Burdick and David Gabrielson are emerging as the two likely winners of the contested town board seats in Tuesday’s general election, collecting 1,421 and 1,064 votes, respectively, as compared to Vander Linden's 964 votes.

Results are unoffical as reported by the county board of elections. With 72 percent of votes counted, the incumbents didn't declare victory this evening at a campaign gathering at Oliver's in Katonah, but both said they were looking forward to four more years in office.

"The results aren't totally in but the trends look very good and I'm absolutely confident that Chris is going to win and I feel very good myself," said Gabrielson, 58. "If things turn out that way, it's incredibly gratifying that the people of Bedford recognize the job we've done."

A handful of voting machines in Bedford broke down Tuesday and until final results are tallied, none of the candidates planned to declare victory.

Lee V.A. Roberts, who was running unopposed for re-election as supervisor, collected 1,365 votes and Kevin Quaranta received 1,528 votes.

Burdick, 60, said the bipartisan nature of the board works well and he looked forward to continuing his service.

"Even though we have three Republicans and two Democrats on the town board, we worked hard to find common ground," he said. "And I think that's what Bedford wants to see—they don't want to see the wrangling. They want to see solutions reached."

For his part, Vander Linden, 36, said by jumping into the race, he hoped he inspired community members to have greater scrutiny on how local government is run.

"I have met a lot of people during this campaign—some who have never been politically involved—but are now paying more attention to how the town spends its money," he said from a Republican party gathering at Peppino's in Katonah. "We want more involvement."

If final election results are not in his favor, Vander Linden said he'll continue to be involved on the town's communications and recreation and parks commitees. Britta Vander Linden, his wife and campaign spokesperson, said there was
"a lot of excitement" over her husband's race.

"It takes a lot to throw your hat in," she said. "But every seat, every office should be challenged in a healthy democracy."

Check back with Patch tomorrow for more details on this race.


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