A bill passed earlier this week in Albany will allow several Westchester communities to use the old lever-style voting machines for upcoming elections on March 15.

Village clerks in Larchmont, Port Chester, Scarsdale,Hastings, Bronxville,Tarrytown, Tuckahoe and Pleasantville had asked a contingent of Westchester State Assemblymembers to support and pass the legislation citing the cost and availability of the new electronic voting machines which feature optical scanning technology.

Democrat Mary Jane Shimsky has defeated Republican Nick DeCicco in the 12th Legislative District Race to fill the seat vacated by Tom Abinanti. According to unofficial results from the Westchester County Board of Elections, with 94% of the vote in, Shimsky was leading DeCicco 55-45%.

Abinanti was elected to the State Assembly to fill the seat previously held by Shimsky's former boss, Richard Brodsky. Shimsky served as Community Relations Director for Brodsky. She also served as Chair and Vice Chair of the Hastings Democratic Committee and Vice Chair for the Westchester County Democratic Committee.

Shimsky has said a key issue for her moving forward will be to "Strike the right balance in the County budget, to continue to pay for services for those who need them, while at the same time keeping costs low enough for those who can't afford to pay more."

The race to fill the 12th District seat formerly held by Westchester County Legislator Tom Abinanti is coming to a head as voters head to the polls tomorrow to decide a successor.

The winner will serve out the remainder of Abinanti's term, until the end of December 2011.

The election in November is for the next full two year term.

Vying for the seat is Mary Jane Shimsky, who's running on the Democratic, Independence and Working Family lines and Nick DeCicco, who's running on the Republican line.

Shimsky is an attorney. She served as Community Relations Director for former State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky. She has also served on the Hastings Democratic Committee as chair and vice chair. She is currently a vice chair of the Westchester County Democratic Committee.

DeCicco  is a prosecutor for the Westchester County District Attorney's office and is assigned to Family Court in Yonkers. He has also served on the Greenburgh Police Advisory Commission as well as the Greenburgh Zoning Board of Appeals.

Westchesternewsonline.com spoke with both candidates at length about a number of key issues facing Westchester. DeCicco says the key issue is job creation and economic development in the County. He says campaigning and going door-to-door in recent weeks to over 2,000 homes in the District has been an eye-opener for him. "People say to me,' help me stay in my home. Working families and seniors  tell me this is a real concern of theirs, that they may have to move, that they don't know how much longer they can stay.'I myself understand what it's like to struggle to stay in my home, where I live."

Shimsky says the issue is one that hits close to home for her and that she and her husband are among the many who are facing an "economic crisis." The key, she says is "Striking the right balance in the County budget, to continue to pay for services for those who need them, and at the same time keep costs low enough for those who can't afford to pay more."

The Westchester County Board of Legislators announced today that a special election will be heldTuesday February 15 to fill the 12th Legislative District Seat. 

The seat was vacated when Assemblyman Tom Abinanti was elected to serve in the New York State Assembly. Abinanti succeeds longtime Assemblyman Richard Brodsky who ran unsuccessfully for New York State Attorney General.

Longtime Westchester County Legislator Tom Abinanti(D-Greenburgh) Tuesday easily defeated challenger Anna Sterne for the Democratic nomination in the 92nd State Assembly District Race.

According to unofficial results, Abinanti was ahead of the Dobbs Ferry school Trustee 65%-35% with 83% of the vote count in.

Abinanti thanked his challenger and applauded her for "sticking to the issues."

The Westchester County Board of Legislators is poised to consider legislation sponsored by Legislators Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh) and Minority Leader Jim Maisano (R-New Rochelle) that would prohibit the County from using its powers of eminent domain for private economic development, such as shopping malls or to allow developers to build homes or condominiums.

Westchester County Legislator Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh) was joined by families from across Westchester and the surrounding areas in Purchase Wednesday  to urge Governor David Paterson to veto an autism insurance bill--A1037A/S7000B--that will soon be on his desk.

Abinanti, who is the father of an autistic child, said the measure was billed as "The answer parents of children with autism have been waiting for. Instead, he says the legislation "Creates loopholes that will ultimately make it worse for parents."

The Westchester lawmaker says the bill "Guarantees nothing.It sets up a process by which the health commissioner of the state of New York will review various types of evidence that will determine what should be covered and what shouldn't be covered by the insurance companies."

Abinanti says the bill would require all autism treatments  be approved by a committee of four state agencies. It's a bureaucratic hurdle that he says "Sets a standard, a three part standard, that is used nowhere else in New York law and nowhere else in the country."