Just a couple hundred Village of New Paltz residents came out to vote this week, with the turnout likely depressed by the ongoing pandemic and the lack of any competitive races. In addition to voting for the only candidates on the ballot, by more than a three-to-one margin they agreed to put future village elections under county control.
Incumbent William Wheeler Murray received 172 votes and newcomer Stana Weisburd got 183. As in the past, the write-in votes suggested an editorial undercurrent. In addition to votes cast for Beavis, “anybody else,” and “someone different,” the names of several former village officials were written in, including Tom Rocco, Don Kerr, Jason West and the late Tom Nyquist. Votes were also cast for town council member Dan Torres, as well as county elections commissioner Ashley Dittus. Amy Cohen, a previous mayoral candidate, received three votes, the highest among the write-ins, and one was cast for Brian Kazmin, hearkening back to a time when that misspelled name led to college student Brian Kimbiz winning a seat by a single vote.
Moving the election to November may pose a higher barrier to entry for college students running for village office in the future. The last time an attempt was made to move the election, the aim was a June date to reduce or eliminate the opportunity for registered voters who leave town for the summer from participating. November is during the academic year, but county-run elections are partisan elections, and the period for collection signatures on petitions to get candidates on the ballot is during the summer when many students are elsewhere. It’s up to the local political committee to decide if party candidate will be decided by a primary — which requires petitions — or a caucus. That means it will be decided by the majority vote of the six political committee members representing the village. According to state law, a member of a political committee must reside in the same state assembly district, but is not required to live in the municipality in question.
The push to move the election was based on a desire to shift costs from village to county taxpayers and to increase participation. Not everyone was convinced that this would accomplish the latter. Wheeler Murray opposed the move, writing in a letter to the editor, “At present, the May village election is nonpartisan, meaning it consists of candidates who run on their own independent party, of their creation, organized among friends, family and supporters — not on a major party ticket. The difficulty is that it’s quite possible a small committee of people belonging to a major party could pick who should serve in a village position, and those committee members may not even be village residents. In an intimate political and cultural setting, such as we have here in the Village of New Paltz, this could be divisive. Just a handful of people would decide who would run our local government. It’s true that a candidate could run for a village office without a major party’s choice and backing, but the odds would not be in that person’s favor.”
Another voice of dissent came from Dan Torres, a village resident presently on the town council, who said in part, “I remain concerned that in the new partisan dynamic, even fewer voters will ultimately decide their representatives given the political realities of our community and the newfound importance of the Democratic line in village races. This year’s non-partisan uncontested village election had nearly the same number of village voters that participated in the 2017 Democratic town primary that featured two contested races.” Torres is referencing the historical trend in town races this century, in which candidates on the Democratic line invariably win general elections. There tend to be fewer voters at primaries overall, and in a partisan climate in New Paltz, Torres believes that those primary voters will decide the contest, as does Murray.
Supporters of the move will now have the opportunity to see if their predictions of higher participation come to pass and whether it will include the increased rancor feared by naysayers.
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