How long does it take for a massive shift in voter enrollment to show up at the polls? We found out at the polls last night when voters elected the 23 members of the Ulster County Legislature. With only the absentee ballots to be counted, the Democrats picked up four seats, increasing their total to 16 and leaving the GOP with only seven.
The present legislature consists of twelve solons who usually voted with the Democrats and eleven with the Republicans. That was a razor-thin margin, considering that this February there were 54,267 enrolled Democrats and 30,184 Republicans in the county.
In the past five years, the Dems have enrolled almost 11,000 new potential voters while the GOP has added a paltry 600. The number of people enrolled in no party, meanwhile, has barely budged. It’s now 36,957. If all the adherents of the major parties stuck with their parties in a countywide election, the Republicans would need to win close to five out of every six of the non-enrolled. That’s a tough task.
Things are different, of course, when we are talking about a county of 23 individual single-member districts. Each is a separate race involving districts with populations of only 8000 people each. Each involves different personalities and often different issues.
When the absentee ballots are counted in two or three weeks, the Democrats will probably retain their unprecedented edge in the legislature. When the expanded legislative majority caucuses, its members will begin the process of picking their leadership. With the defeat of veteran chairman Dave Donaldson in the Democratic primary and then again in yesterday’s general election, there’s room at the top.
Legislature
District 1 (town of Saugerties)
Aaron Levine (D, WF) 1242
Gregory Roque (R, C) 854
District 2 (town and village of Saugerties)
Joe Maloney (D) 996
Albert Bruno (R, C) 825
Chris Allen (Ind) 98
District 3 (towns of Saugerties and Ulster)
Arick Manocha (D, WF) 473
Dean Fabiano (R, C) 1060
District 4 (towns of Ulster and Kingston)
Brian Cahill (D,WF) 1018
Vincent Nelson (R,C) 947
District 5 (city of Kingston)
Abe Uchitelle (D, WF) 962
District 6 (city of Kingston)
Phillip Erner (D, Kingston Peoples) 883
Suzanne Timbrouck (R, Safer Community) 574
David Donaldson (Good Government) 367
District 7 (city of Kingston)
Peter Criswell (D, WF) 827
Brian Woltman (R,C) 607
District 8 (town of Esopus)
Laura Petit (D,WF) 1143
Jared Keplinger (R,C) 1065
District 9 (towns of Lloyd and Plattekill)
Herbert Litts (R,C) 1134
District 10 (towns of Lloyd and Marlborough)
Gary Pregno (D) 724
Gina Hansut (R,C) 1033
District 11 (town of Marlborough)
Thomas Corcoran (R, Independence) 1317
District 12 (town of Plattekill)
Marisa McClinton (D, WF) 541
Kevin Roberts (R, C) 989
District 13 (town of Shawangunk)
Andrew Domenech (D) 278
Kenneth Ronk (R, C) 833
District 14 (towns of Shawangunk and Wawarsing)
Kelli Palinkas Greer (D, WF, Gunks Freedom) 489
Craig Lopez (R, C, Open Government) 1034
District 15 (town of Wawarsing, village of Ellenville)
John Gavaris (D) 628
District 16 (towns of Gardiner and Shawangunk)
Tracey Bartels (D, WF) 1170
Kimberly Calderone (R, C) 913
District 17 (towns of New Paltz an Esopus)
Megan Sperry (D) 1140
District 18 (towns of Marbletown and Hurley)
Eric Stewart (D, WF) 1658
Carl Belfiglio (R, C) 1167
District 19 (town of Rosendale)
Manna Jo Greene (D, WF) 1434
District 20 (town and village of New Paltz)
Eve Walter (D, WF) 669
District 21 (towns of Rochester and Wawarsing)
Chris Hewitt (D, WF) 1326
Ronald Lapp Jr. (R, C) 1138
District 22 (towns of Denning, Hardenburgh, Olive and Shandaken)
Kathy Nolan (D, WF) 1578
Peter Friedel (R, Rural Towns Matter) 1298
District 23 (towns of Woodstock and Hurley)
Jonathan Heppner (D) 2054
Joan Paccione (R, Air Land water) 533
William McKnight (WF) 173
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