Libertarian Party Candidate Korchak Elected Broome County DA

Michael Korchak has been declared the winner in an extremely tight race for Broome County district attorney.

Korchak, who narrowly lost the Republican primary to Paul Battisti in June, decided to run for the post on the Libertarian Party line.

After absentee and affidavit ballots were counted Tuesday, Korchak wound up with 46 more votes than Battisti.

Korchak and Democratic district attorney candidate Debra Gelson spent most of the day at the Board of Elections office in the Broome County office building as the ballots were tabulated. Battisti was absent.

Korchak has been the chief assistant district attorney for nearly four years. Before moving to Broome County, he served as a prosecutor in the Bronx.

Gelson, who wound up in third place after votes were tabulated on election night, said she was pleased that Korchak prevailed with the count of the absentee and affidavit votes. She had maintained Battisti, who has never been a prosecutor, was not qualified to be district attorney.

Battisti issued a statement Tuesday evening indicating he was not conceding the race. He said because of the relatively small number of votes separating him and Korchak out of 43,000 ballots cast, he wants a "full handcount and review of every ballot cast" to ensure an accurate result.

Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com

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