BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- Two candidates vying for a Binghamton City Council seat are separated by one vote as Republican Thomas Scanlon maintains the narrowest of leads over Democratic incumbent Justin MacGregor.
"To have it come down to a single point is really incredible. There's a 191 ballots issued for the 7th Ddistrict, I believe its 147 have already been returned. It's just one of those things where you just don't know how it's going to play out, it's a nail-biter," said MacGregor.
For this race and many others, the deciding factor will come down to two things -- affidavit and absentee ballots. The Broome County Board of Elections says this election season is proving just how important each and every vote truly is.
"Right now we have a race that's a difference of one. That one vote could mean it's tied. So of course, obviously every vote matters, we encourage voter turnout," Broome County Board of Election Deputy Commissioner Christina Dutko.
Early numbers show high voter turnout throughout the state, with the City of Binghamton reporting more than 65 percent.
Officials hope the close races we're seeing this year will motivate people to hit the polls in the future.
"A lot of that starts on the local level to get people excited and enthusiastic about things that are going on. And if you can start locally, it would, I hope build a national trend," said Dutko.
"I think that if they did it this year, if they turned out this year, they're going to keep turning out because people are so sick of the frustration and the inability of government to get things done," said MacGregor.
Absentee and affidavit ballots will be filed and counted within the coming days, giving final numbers to undetermined races.
Thomas Scanlon declined an interview request.