Last Minute Write-In for Lawrence Village Election

BY SUSAN VARGHESE
Standard Associate Editor

Uncontested elections at five local villages, that started with no competition ended with two write-ins for the Village of Lawrence.

In Lawrence, Trustee Michael Fragin had 85 votes, Deputy Mayor Joel Mael had 82 votes, and write-ins David Neglander took 16 votes, while David Seidemann had 22 votes.

Fragin said he was “pleased” with the result and added, “I think we’ll continue to do well. Clearly, competition brings more interest to village and it’s a healthy thing. If people want to run they should be open and public with it. That being said, there’s nothing wrong with someone waging a write-in competition last minute…I think that we’re all motivated by wanting to serve the community.”

However, write-in candidate, Seidemann noted that he had no idea he was written-in and wasn’t interested in running in the first place. “I never had any intentions of running and never had a desire to run. I received a call late yesterday afternoon that there was very low turn out and that my name was being written in by a number of people,” he said.

Seidemann added, “I wont rule it out in the future, but I’ve gotten feedback from some people who think that I instigated this. I’m a smart guy, so, if I wanted to run I would’ve ran. This did not come from me. To say that I instigated it or was complicit in it is not true. “

In Woodsburgh, Susan Schlaff was elected mayor with 38 votes, Trustees Carl Cayne and Gary Goffner, were elected with 35 and 36 votes.

In Hewlett Bay Park, incumbents Alex Salomon and Jake Levy both had 9 votes for the trustee position. Hewlett Neck trustee incumbents, Michael Levine had 21 votes, and Brett Cooper had 17 votes.

Atlantic Beach incumbent Andrew J. Rubin reclaimed his trustee slot with 46 votes.  Danae Muddiman, also got the trustee position with 55 votes.