Local races uninspiring to many Tuesday
Democrats hurt more than Republicans as far more voters stay home than vote
LOCKPORT — Voter turnout in Niagara County is decreasing.
Check that. Voter turnout in Niagara County is tanking.
Cratering. As in, a sudden plummet in election participation that made already low turnout levels worse.
In North Tonawanda, about 2,000 fewer voters showed up for Tuesday’s mayoral election than voted in the last one four years ago.
In the City of Lockport, where all six Council seats were filled, only about 27 percent of registered voters took part even though there was competition citywide and in every ward. Tuesday’s election drew about 1,500 fewer voters than appeared for the mayoral election of 2007 and 1,900 fewer than the off-year Council election of 2005.
In Lewiston, the supervisor’s race drew about 800 fewer voters than it did just two years ago, despite a vigorous campaign with three candidates to choose from. Turnout was 37 percent.
Even in Wheatfield — where the supervisor’s race featured an unprecedented zany campaign with two major party candidates and the incumbent trying to win with a massive write-in effort — there were about 200 fewer voters than in the fairly quiet election of 2007.
Apathy seems to be the keyword of the day.
“Some people got to a point of whatever happens, happens,” said William Paton, North Tonawanda
Republican Party chairman, whose party won every race on the Lumber City ballot.
“You could spin it a lot of different ways,” said Lockport Mayor Michael W. Tucker, who wasn’t running this year. “I think generally, people are comfortable with what we’re doing. I take it as a compliment.”
“When there’s a perception things are going bad, people turn out,” said Scott P. Kiedrowski, Niagara County Republican Election Commissioner.
However, the voters who did show up in Lockport ousted two of the five incumbent aldermen who sought re-election, with one of each party going down.
North Tonawanda’s decreased voter participation was enough to overwhelmingly defeat Mayor Lawrence V. Soos, and in Lewiston the dwindling turnout dumped Supervisor Fred M. Newlin II. Newlin and Soos are Democrats.
“I talked to more voters this year than I ever did before, and they were very interested in city issues,” said Kenneth M. Genewick, Lockport GOP chairman, who was elected to a Council seat.
“I wish somebody would do a survey about why people don’t come to the polls,” said Democratic Election Commissioner Nancy L. Smith. “You’d think [turnout] would be going up, with the economy the way it is and everybody worried about taxes.”
“I suppose that’s a question that should be thrown out to the public,” said Diane M. Roberts, Lewiston Democratic Party chairwoman. “Where were they [Tuesday]? If you don’t take an interest in what’s going on in your community enough to get out and vote, you really can’t complain about what’s going on.”
Newlin said, “A nice, prosperous town like Lewiston should have higher voting rates than it did. We dipped down below 4,000 voters for the first time in eight or nine years.”
Newlin pointed out that Steven
L. Reiter, the Republican who beat him Tuesday, received fewer votes in winning than Republican Ronald R. Winkley did in losing the 2007 supervisor’s race. “That’s a tough one to get my head around,” Newlin said.
“I don’t think it’s a lack of interest,” Paton said. “It’s hard to say after a landslide, but we as politicians have to do a better job of educating voters.”
“There are 20 factors why people don’t go to the polls,” Kiedrowski said.
Among them are which races are on the ballot. There were no countywide races this year, while in 2005 there was a campaign for sheriff. In 2007, Niagara Falls and Lockport elected mayors. They weren’t up for election this year, and the people didn’t respond to Council and County Legislature races alone.
“A lot depends on how exciting the races are, how much fervor the candidates generate,” Kiedrowski said.
There was fervor aplenty in Wheatfield, as Supervisor Timothy
E. Demler tried to save himself, or at least make things tough on his Republican rival Robert B. Cliffe and Democrat Samuel Conti Jr., by mounting a write-in campaign.
After some trouble during the September primary, the Board of Elections went to the expense of paying for off-duty, but uniformed, sheriff’s deputies to stand guard at every polling place Tuesday.
“Maybe a lot of people thought it was going to be a circus and didn’t want to be a part of it,” Kiedrowski speculated.
County Democratic Party Chairman Daniel Rivera said the problem this year seemed to be that Democratic turnout in particular was down.
“What I think you saw countywide was not isolated to Niagara County. The Democrats had a very bad night throughout the state,” Rivera said.
Paton made the same point in regard to North Tonawanda, where a 2,500-person Democratic enrollment advantage did that party no good.
“A lot of people were disillusioned with the outgoing mayor,” Paton said. “They didn’t know the new mayor [-elect, Republican Robert G. Ortt], the name recognition wasn’t there. It appeared the Democrats didn’t come out.”
But others think the question isn’t a temporary slump for one party but a longer-term trend of decreased participation in local races, which heavy turnout for presidential elections, such as last year’s Barack Obama-John McCain race, only disguises.
Wheatfield was the only municipality whose turnout Tuesday, including absentee voters, was higher than it was in 2005, the same time this set of town and city offices came around in the election cycle.
“I really think there’s been a loss of faith in the system,” Kiedrowski said. “There’s a lot of voters who think their vote doesn’t count, when we know it does.”
And life gets in the way, even though polls are open for 15 hours.
“A lot of families are so busy today, getting the kids ready for school, their careers, a lot of times I think voting gets lost,” Kiedrowski said. “I live and breathe this every day because it’s what I do for a living. For a lot of people, it’s an afterthought.”
“You could spin it a lot of different ways,” Tucker said. “Obviously, we wish more people would get involved in the process.”
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