by Robert Lynch; November 4, 2025; updated as of 2:05 AM
Their victory may prove hard to stop. Enfield incumbent Democratic Councilpersons Jude Lemke and Cassandra Hinkle have taken the lead in a close election for two Town Councilperson seats. Yet still uncounted absentee ballots could influence the final election outcome.
Updated Board of Elections tallies that combined same-day in-person voting with previously-cast early voting and already-counted absentee ballots late Tuesday put incumbent Jude Lemke in the lead in the four-way race for two Town Board seats. Lemke held that lead with 426 votes. Fellow Democratic incumbent Cassandra Hinkle was polling second as of late Tuesday with 409 votes.
If those leads hold, Lemke and Hinkle, each completing their first, full four-year terms on the Enfield Town Board, would each secure another term in office.
Polling third at that moment was challenger independent Rosie Carpenter, who claimed 394 votes, just 15 votes behind Hinkle. Challenger Robert Tuskey placed fourth at 343 votes.
Absentee ballots can still add to the total, as they are received by the Tompkins County Board of Elections in future days, so long as they were postmarked by Tuesday, November 4, Election Day.
In the Enfield election, incumbents Lemke and Hinkle campaigned as a team carrying the Democratic Party endorsement and supported by the party organization. Carpenter and Tuskey, likewise aligned themselves as a team and proceeded toward the election generally self-funded.
All other Town of Enfield offices, including that of Town Supervisor, were uncontested this election cycle. Town Supervisor Stephanie Redmond won without serious opposition, as did Town Clerk Mary Cornell and Highway Superintendent Barry “Buddy” Rollins.
Among other noteworthy races around Tompkins County, Democratic incumbent Town Supervisor Katelin Olson defeated by a more than two-to-one margin her independent opponent Supervisor candidate Katherine Lou Walker. Unofficial tallies gave Olson 994 votes, Walker 437.
In Lansing, in the most hotly-contested race for Tompkins County Legislature, incumbent Republican Mike Sigler beat Democratic challenger James Perkins. Sigler won with 1215 votes (54.5%) to Perkins’ 969 (43.5%), with an additional two percent of write-ins.
Meanwhile, the race for Lansing Town Board ended the night as a free-for-all, its outcome complicated by the last-minute entry of two write-in candidates to challenge the Democratic incumbents.
The only thing certain in Lansing is that incumbent Judy Drake, now running as a Democrat, will keep her Town Board seat. Drake prevailed with 1763 votes. But the other incumbent, Democrat Joseph Wetmore, has found himself four votes behind one of two write-in positions. Wetmore got 1585 votes. One write-in slot got 1589 votes, the second 1424 votes.
In the final weeks of the 2025 campaign, two write-in aspirants, John Duthie and Joe Lovejoy, entered the race for Lansing Town Board, their entry prompted by Lansing’s growing controversy over the proposed TerraWulf power plant’s conversion into a data center.
As of Tuesday night, it remained unclear as to how many write-in votes were cast for Duthie and how many for Lovejoy. Depending upon how the write-in votes are sorted out between the candidates, Wetmore could lose his seat on the Board to one of the write-ins, or he may not. There’ll likely be a recount in any case.
In Newfield, the two incumbents on the Town Board will remain. In a three-way contest for two Councilperson seats, incumbent Democrat Joanne James polled strongest with 519 votes. Republican incumbent Christine Seamon snagged the second seat with 398 votes. Another Republican candidate, Michael Corbett, trailed with 350 votes.
In eastern Dryden, the Tompkins County legislative seat to be vacated by the retiring Mike Lane will remain Democratic. Democrat Dan Wakeman clobbered Republican rival Thomas Corey for the right to succeed Lane, 1046 votes to 350.
Closer to Enfield, across the town line in the Town of Ithaca, Democrat Christy Bianconi beat independent candidate Michelle Wright for the opportunity to succeed the retiring County Legislator Amanda Champion. Bianconi secured 400 votes, Wright 292 votes. Of note, according to media reports, Champion had endorsed Wright to be her preferred successor in recent weeks. It won’t happen.
In Enfield, both seats on the County Legislature were decided without contest. Incumbent Republican Randy Brown will continue to represent southern Enfield. Democratic newcomer Rachel Ostlund, unopposed, will succeed the retiring Democrat Anne Koreman in northern Enfield’s redrawn District 16.
This story will be updated with additional reporting as further information becomes available.
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