After a counting of the absentee ballots Thursday Nov. 17, Board of Elections Commissioner Ed Ryan says results at the close Election Day races remain the same.

“People who were ahead last Tuesday night are still ahead,” he said.

That included incumbent Fourth District County Legislator Judy Tassone, who maintained her lead over challenger David Stott by about 50 votes.

“It was a hard-fought campaign,” Tassone said Thursday afternoon. “When it came in on Election Night that it was down to just 31 votes, I knew I couldn’t celebrate until we got the absentees in. Now I’m just glad it’s over.”

The Nov. 8 tally showed Tassone narrowing clinging to a lead, 2,151 votes to Stott’s 2,120.

The race was hotly contested and ugly at times, with both sides claiming the other had stooped to mudslinging and dirty tactics.

“He came of dirty right off the bat,” Tassone said of Stott, who accused Tassone of voting to raise taxes by as much as 46 percent. “We just went along with his games.”

Stott, on the other hand, said it was Tassone’s camp who started the mudslinging.

“I ran a very positive race,” he said. “I was open and honest about the issues. She did vote for a tax increase. They did everything they could to win. They took a confusing issue and tried to pin the confusion on me. They spent three times as much as I did trying to distort the facts.”

Stott said that, while he was disappointed in the results, he was proud of the campaign he ran.

“For me, running for office is about serving the people, and I think I proved that,” he said. “It’s not about winning at any cost. I would rather lose with integrity than win by cutting someone down.”