After absentee ballots counted, Lois wins by 348 votes
Robin Lois, the Democratic challenger for Dutchess County Comptroller, defeated Republican incumbent Jim Coughlan by 348 votes of more than 65,000 cast after more than 3,000 absentee votes were counted, a margin of victory of about a half percent.
About 100 contested ballots remain to be counted, so the results have not yet been certified by the Dutchess County Board of Elections. But Lois said Coughlan, who was first elected in 2009, had called her to concede.
The comptroller is the chief accounting and auditing officer for the county. Lois is co-owner and controller of a commercial property management group and Taconic Sport & Racquet Club in Hopewell Junction.