In North Bellmore Schools: After historic tie, a runoff election

Election season isn’t over yet for North Bellmore School District voters, as an unprecedented tie in the contest for one seat on the Board of Education has forced a runoff election, on a date to be determined.

Two Board of Education seats were up for grabs in the May 21 vote. While Peter Mayo bested incumbent Rosemarie Corless by 129 votes in one race, JoAnn DeLauter, the board’s president, and Frank LaMagra both garnered 799 votes. District administrators explained that, in accordance with state law, the pair must face off in another election to decide who will take the last seat on the board next year.

LaMagra said that DeLauter had beaten him in the first count, 800 to 799 votes, but because the race was so close, district officials recounted all of the ballots three times. LaMagra said he was dumbfounded but pleased to find out that he had tied DeLauter in spite of the fact that he did not campaign as actively as he would have liked.

“I was pretty happy that I could stay up there with the current president,” he said. “Now my plan is to go all out. I really want to win this thing.”

DeLauter, a 28-year North Bellmore resident, said she was also surprised by the result, and could not recall a time when two board candidates tied. Assistant Superintendent for Business Mark Schissler said that although district officials could not recall a tie in North Bellmore, Nassau County residents might remember one such instance last year. In 2012, Long Beach Board of Education Trustees Darlene Tangney and Gina Guma were deadlocked, with 1,691 votes each. A state-mandated special election was held in June to break the tie, but Guma withdrew before the vote.

Schissler said he believed that North Bellmore’s runoff election must be held within 45 days of the initial vote, but the district needed to confirm all protocols with the State Education Department. The second election could take place on June 18 at the earliest, he said.

Any registered North Bellmore District voter is permitted to vote again, Schissler said, and the candidate who receives the majority of votes will win the seat. He added that district officials would do all they could to advertise the vote.