The race for Riverhead town supervisor may come down to a recount, per New York State election law, after just 21 votes separate the two candidates after election night.

Democratic challenger, pastor Jerry Halpin, leads incumbent Republican Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard, 3,891 to 3,870. The current margin of victory sits at just under .3%.

An automatic recount is triggered in New York if the margin of victory is 20 votes or less, 0.5% or less, or less than 5,000 votes in a contest where one million or more ballots are cast. News 12 reached out early this morning to both the New York State and Suffolk County boards of elections.

The story of this race may come down to voter turnout.

Roughly 7,700 people cast their ballots in the town of Riverhead, but there were about 25,000 eligible voters, according to the New York State Board of Elections.

According to data from the Suffolk County Board of Elections, this year saw a lower number of votes cast and a lower voter turnout percentage compared to 2023 and 2021, the last two times voters in Riverhead elected a town supervisor.