Lysander and Van Buren residents have spoken loud and clear – they value every vote including that for the position of highway superintendent.

Each town had a proposition (number one) to change the position of highway superintendent from an elected to an appointed position on today’s ballot. Both towns voted the proposition down. Roughly 75 percent of voters in Van Buren rejected the proposition with 3,576 votes against versus 1,258 votes in favor. Approximately two-thirds of Lysander voters casted a no vote with 5,819 votes against the proposition versus 2,967 votes in favor.

It was also a contest year for the Lysander Highway Superintendent seat, which saw Eugene Dinsmore (current appointed highway superintendent for the town) running against Chris Patrick. Running on the Republican ticket, Dinsmore received 5,153 votes defeating Patrick, the Democratic candidate who received 4,024 votes.

An even tighter race occurred for the open Lysander Town Councilor seat. James Hickey and Russ Johnson were competing for the position holding a mostly even balance throughout each district. However, in the end, Hickey, who was appointed to the vacant position earlier this year when the seat was vacated, lost the election by a little more than 100 votes. Hickey received 4,592 votes compared to 4,693 votes for Johnson, who was running on the Republican ticket.

Dinsmore will continue serving as Lysander’s Highway Superintendent while Hickey will finish out his term, which ends Dec. 31, 2012. Johnson will then take the seat on Jan. 1, 2013.

Note: All results are from the Onondaga County Election Board and are yet to be declared official. As of Election Night, there were still 695 absentee ballots yet to be counted in Lysander.