NORWICH – Over a week after election day, today the Chenango County Board of Elections opened the absentee ballots and declared that James McNeil had won the highly contested race for Norwich City Supervisor for wards one, two and three.

When the polls closed on Tuesday, Nov. 6, McNeil with a total of 435 votes to opponent Scott Sutton’s 393. McNeil, who was the incumbent, ran on the Democratic and quality of life tickets. Sutton entered the race after the deadline for running on the Republican ticket was past, instead he ran as an independent on the square deal ticket. When the polls closed Tuesday night, McNeil led Sutton by a margin of 42 votes.

The Board of Elections issued 109 absentee ballots. Of those that were returned and filled out properly, McNeil took an additional 60 votes, gaining him a total of 495. Sutton took an additional 8, bringing his total to 411.