Incumbent Justice Christopher J. Burns and Erie County Judge Shirley Troutman earned easy

victories Tuesday in the race for a seat on the State Supreme Court in Buffalo.

In the race for the final seat, Justice John F. O'Donnell was leading Williamsville Justice

Jeffrey F. Voelkl in returns from six of the eight counties in the Eighth Judicial District.

The four veteran judges were vying for three spots on the state's major trial court in

Western New York.

One of the seats was left vacant after a scandal forced Justice Joseph G. Makowski to

resign in March. The justices serve 14-year terms and are paid $136,700 per year.

Burns and Troutman were comfortably leading as returns came in from Erie, Niagara,

Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Genesee, Wyoming, Orleans and Allegany counties.

Burns had 32 percent of the vote in the counties, followed by 31 percent for Troutman and

22 percent for O'Donnell.

Voelkl was trailing far behind with 15 percent of the roughly 545,000 votes cast.

He was beating O'Donnell in tiny Wyoming and Orleans counties but this was not enough to

offset O'Donnell's large margins in Erie, Niagara and elsewhere.

The success of Burns and Troutman was not unexpected.

The chairmen of the Erie County Republican and Democratic parties had agreed in September

to cross-endorse Troutman, a Democrat, and Burns, a Republican, all but ensuring their wins.