Fate of 12 votes still undecided, with Stewart leading Wettje by 3 votes

NEW CITY – A new twist has been added to the continuing court fight to decide who will be the Orangetown town supervisor in 2014.

A state Supreme Court hearing will move from the County Courthouse in New City to a voter’s home, according to Kristen Zebrowski Stavitsky, Rockland County’s Democratic elections commissioner and head of the county’s Democratic Party.

She said testimony will be heard in the home of a voter who is involved with one of the 12 remaining absentee ballots that have not been counted yet in the race between incumbent Andy Stewart, D-Nyack, and challenger Walter Wettje Jr., R-Pearl River.

After Republican challenges to absentee ballots were dismissed in court, the margin between Stewart and Wettje changed from 36 votes in Wettje’s favor on Election Night to three votes in Stewart’s favor. Democrats are now challenging the final 12 absentee ballots, saying they should not be counted because of problems with those ballots.

Stavisky says those final absentee ballots remain sealed, so no one knows which way votes contained in those ballots are cast. However, the identities of the voters are known.

Testimony is expected to be taken at a voter’s home at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with the case then returning to a New City Courtroom.