“We’re hitting our stride now,” said Ashley Torres, one of Ulster County’s Election Commissioners at 11 a.m. Tuesday, October 29. “Day four, of early voting and we’re already breaking records for turnout for early voting.” At that point Torres said that 13,930 Ulster County voters has cast their ballots at one of the six early voting centers. Asked if she believed that the presidential race was responsible for the large numbers, Torres was unequivocal. “Absolutely, that’s what’s driving the turnout, the top of the ticket.”
She explained that after they are cast, the early voting ballots are all locked in boxes. “At 9:05 election night, we’ll begin to tabulate them.”
Nonetheless, she did have some numbers as to which parties the early voters are registered.
“Upwards of 50 percent are Democrats,” Torres said. “Day one (Saturday, October 26) Democrats were 57.8 percent. Yesterday it was 52.75 percent. The Republicans have been gaining some momentum.” She said that the GOP represented 21.4 percent of the ballots cast on opening day, and that number had climbed to 23 percent by Monday. Those registered voters who don’t belong to any party were 15.8 percent on opening day and were at 18.8 percent by Monday. “They’re starting to creep up,” said Torres. “I think they’ll have a higher number, they take a little while to decide.”
Sunshine poured all over the Saugerties Senior Center on a gorgeous autumn Monday afternoon, October 28, making it easy for voters from all over the area to stand in a line that fluctuated between 50 and 100 people, waiting to cast ballots in the early voting. Without revealing who was voting for whom and with gentle admonitions against electioneering, the mood was almost holiday-like, with smiles all around. The line moved steadily, if not particularly quickly, but all accounts of earlier in the day recalled a large turnout.
“New Paltz was highest turnout over the weekend,” said Torres. “Now it’s Kingston. There were no lines in Olive or Marlborough…People are very willing to help us get this done. Voters are really cool about it. Disabled people are escorted to the front of the lines…It’s all pretty seamless. Any hiccups, we address it ASAP. And we’re planning on a huge election day. It all makes for very long days, putting in 10-12 hour days here. And look, we’ve been on the phone for what, 13-14 minutes? And in that time we’re up over 14,055. I wish people did this every year. I love seeing it.”
As we finally run right up to the Tuesday, November 5 General Election, let us take one more look at whom and for what Ulster County voters will be casting ballots. Many of the names and offices are familiar after this intense campaign. Democrats occupy Row A by dint of having won the most votes for Governor in the last election for that office, and as such are listed first.
Elections Commissioner Torres reports that the county has had an upward trend in voter registration over the course of the last four years.
Earlier in October, Torres said that there were 54,172 Democrats registered to vote in Ulster County; 36,365 eligible voters NOP, short for those registered voters who belong to no party; there were 28,844 Republicans and a scattering of 8944 belonging to small parties, for a grand total of 128,325.
Here’s a run-down of the major races facing voters. We start with the top of the tickets:
President/Vice President (Four-year terms)
Kamala D. Harris/Tim Walz (Democrat, Working Families Party)
Donald J. Trump/JD Vance (Republican, Conservative Party)
The story of this campaign will long be told, how two elderly men entered the race, one dropped out, and his Vice President stepped up with an aim to be the first woman Commander in Chief. But she would have to get past a former President who seeks to reclaim the office. The polls call this national election a tossup, with seven undecided states holding the balance, and a billion dollars spent vying for ever smaller slices of the electorate, that prognosticators say will decide this election
U.S. Senator (Six-year term, statewide)
Kirsten E. Gillibrand (Democrat, Working Families Party),Incumbent
Michael D. Sapraicone (Republican, Conservative Party)
Diane Sare (LaRouche Party)
Gillibrand, after being appointed by Governor David Paterson in 2009 won a special election in 2010, then won two full terms in the U.S. Senate in 2012 and 2018.
She is being challenged by Mike Sapraicone, a retired New York Police Department Detective.
Diane Sare, who has a spot on the ballot for the LaRouche Party is, according to Wikipedia, a political organizer and perennial candidate.
House of Representatives (Two-year terms)
U.S. Congress, District 18 (includes Orange County, part of Dutchess and the following locations in Ulster County: City of Kingston, Town of Esopus. Town of Gardiner election districts two through four, Town of Kingston, Town of Lloyd, Town of Marlborough, Town of New Paltz, Town of Plattekill, Town of Saugerties, Town of Ulster and Town of Woodstock.
Candidates:
Pat Ryan (Democrat, Working Families Party), incumbent
Alison Esposito (Republican, Conservative Party)
Ryan was Ulster County Executive before being elected to congress in a 2022 special election. He won a full term that same November.
Esposito served for nearly 25 years in the New York City Police Department, earning the rank of Deputy Inspector and Commanding Office.
U.S. Congress, District 19 (includes Broome, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Sullivan, Tompkins, part of Cortland, part of Rensselaer and the following Ulster County municipalities: Town of Denning, Town of Gardiner election district one, Town of Hardenburgh, Town of Hurley, Town of Marbletown, Town of Olive, Town of Rochester, Town of Rosendale, Town of Shandaken, Town of Shawangunk and Town of Wawarsing.
Candidates:
Josh Riley (Democrat, Working Families Party)
Marcus Molinaro (Republican, Conservative Party), incumbent
This rematch pits incumbent Molinaro, former Dutchess County executive who won by a razor’s edge two years ago, against his same opponent, Riley, an attorney who has worked at the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP.
NY State Senate (Two-year terms)
District 41 (includes Columbia, Greene, part of Dutchess and part of Ulster counties.)
Michelle Hinchey (Democrat, Working Families Party), incumbent
Patrick Sheehan (Republican, Conservative Party)
Hinchey, first elected in 2020 as the youngest woman to represent an upstate district, seeks her third term. She is chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee. In her three years in office, Senator Hinchey has had 74 bills signed into law.
Sheehan, born in Kingston, earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston College in 1993 and a law degree from Albany Law School in 1999. His career experience includes working as a business owner.
NY State Senate (Two-year terms)
District 51 (includes counties of Delaware, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan; part of Broome, part of Chenango and a small part of Ulster County.)
Michele Frazier (Democrat, Working Families Party)
Peter Oberacker (Republican, Conservative Party), incumbent
Frazier is an assistant professor of criminal justice at SUNY Delhi
Oberacker, seeking his second term in the Senate, founded Form Tech Solutions, a food industry research and development company, in 2007.
NY State Assembly (Two-year terms)
District 101 (includes parts of Delaware, Orange, Otsego, and Ulster counties.)
Brian M. Maher (Republican, Conservative Party), incumbent
Maher is running unopposed.
NY State Assembly (Two-year terms)
District 103 (part of Dutchess and most of Ulster County.)
Sarahana Shrestha (Democrat, Working Families Party), incumbent
Jack Hayes (Republican, Conservative Party)
Shrestha, first elected in 2022,has the support of progressive Democrats, members of the Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America. She co-chaired the Hudson Valley chapter’s Ecosocialism Working Group before being elected to the Assembly.
Hayes, a Navy and Air Force veteran, has run for several offices. He served in the Ulster County Legislature and as town supervisor in Gardiner.
NY State Assembly (Two-year terms)
District 104 (contains portions of Dutchess, Orange and Ulster counties)
Jonathan G. Jacobson (Democrat, Working Families Party), Incumbent
Jacobson, who has served as the district’s representative since 2018, is running unopposed.
Ulster County Family Court Judge
Keri E. Savona (Democrat), incumbent, running unopposed.
Several down ballot races are discussed elsewhere in this issue.
Turn them over
Ulster County voters will see at least three propositions on the back of their ballots. Proposal number one, also known as the New York Equal Rights Amendment, is the only statewide proposition to appear on the back of every ballot.
Ulster County has proposed two amendments to the county charter regarding personnel and how appointments are made. All Ulster County voters will see these on the back of your ballots.
There is also a City of Kingston only Proposition to create a 1.25% tax on “the conveyance of interests in real property” in order to create a fund source for the city’s Community Preservation Fund.
And four towns, Olive, New Paltz, Marlborough and Gardiner each have separate propositions aimed at funding increases for their community libraries. Only residents of those towns will see their particular proposals on their ballots.
Statewide Proposition 1 is proposing an amendment to the New York State constitution, straightforwardly telling us that if it should pass, “No person shall, because of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, creed [or], religion, or sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive healthcare and autonomy, be subjected to any discrimination in [his or her] their civil rights by any other person or by any firm, corporation, or institution, or by the state or any agency or subdivision of the state, pursuant to law.”
Proposals two and three are for Ulster County voting residents only, amending the county charter. Number two changes the way certain appointments are made in county government. If it passes, the amendment requires legislature confirmation of the appointment of Director of Real Property tax Service, County Attorney, Director of Weights and Measures and Director of the department of the Environment; it establishes residency requirements for the office of Ulster County Comptroller and requires Legislative approval of the Ulster County Comptroller’s order of succession, designates the Ulster County Clerk as the appointing authority of the County Historian, and includes the Department of Environment as part of the Ulster County Charter.
These positions, for the most part, are currently appointed by the County Executive.
Proposal number three, appointments to the legislature amendment, is again for Ulster County voters only.
“Shall the amendment to the Ulster County Charter approved as Proposed Local Law #9 of 2023, providing greater transparency and public awareness and participation when filling a vacancy in the Ulster County Legislature, be adopted and become part of the Ulster County Charter?”
In a fourth proposal on the back of the ballots for City of Kingston voters only asks if the city should approve a 2024 local law establishing a Community Preservation Fund with a 1.25% tax on the portion of real property sales that exceed the median price for the year it takes place, which for 2023 was $375,000. The tax would be paid by the buyer.
Additionally, four towns will, on the back of the ballot, be seeking voter approval for increases in their contributions to local libraries. The towns asking for increases are Gardiner, Marlborough, the towns of New Paltz and Olive.
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