Vote 2013 Live Blog: Join the Conversation

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UPDATE:  8:55:  Okay, folks, that’ll do it for the In Box live blog for tonight.  After this, as actual NY numbers start coming in, we’ll be using the micro-blog on the front page of NCPR.org.  You can still feel free to post opinions, thoughts, views, and conversation below.  Happy election day 2013!

UPDATE:  8:40:  A nervous night for Democrats?  Republican Ken Cuccinelli is looking strong so far in Virginia.  Democrat Terry McAuliffe has some serious ground to make up with about half the precincts still to report.

UPDATE:  8:15pm:  Gov. Chris Christie re-elected in a landslide in New Jersey.  The first step in a 2016 campaign?  It’ll be interesting if Christie, as a moderate, wins big in a blue state while tea party activist-conservative Republican Ken Cuccinelli stumbles in purple Virginia.

UPDATE:  8pm.  Ballot Booth Weariness.  With an hour to go, is it heresy to suggest that maybe a 6 am to 9 pm window for polling is excessive?  Virginia wraps up at 7 pm, New Jersey at 8 pm.  Do NY voters need 15 hours to get the job done, especially now that we have easier absentee and mail-in voting?

UPDATE:  7:40pm.  NY Times reporting “light turnout” in NYC, in part because of the lopsided mayoral race.  Innovation Trail reporter Jenna Flanagan in Schenectady says there has been a “light stream of dedicated voters” in Central NY.

UPDATE: 7:25 pm: Polls are closed in Virginia.  We’re still 90 minutes out from the end of voting in NY, but Virginia’s election is already being tallied and New Jersey closes in 30 minutes.

UPDATE:  7:20pm:  Incumbent-challenger dynamics in SLC contests.

A factor in both the DA’s race and the race for Canton’s village mayor in St. Lawrence County is the difference in campaigning style between the incumbents and the challengers. Sitting DA Nicole Duvé has largely continued working, focused on her work ethic under financially trying circumstances. She’s held one press conference, few public appearances, and has only occasionally responded to Rain’s attacks.
 
Similarly, Canton mayor Dave Curry seems to have barely campaigned at all. “People know me, they know where to find me,” Curry told me at the bar he owns, Dave’s II, on Main Street.
 
Meanwhile, DA challenger Mary Rain and Canton village mayoral challenger, Mary Ann Ashley, have campaigned hard, with lots of door-to-door effort. It’ll be interesting to see if that wearing-out-the-leather-on-your-shoes approach pays off.

UPDATE 7:10pm:  St. Lawrence County DA Race

The big question in the DA race between incumbent Democrat Nicole Duvé and Republican Mary Rain is to what extent voters will blame Duvé for two high-profile murders that have gone without convictions, in particular, the murder of 12 year-old Garrett Phillips in Potsdam in 2011. There are lawn signs all over the Potsdam area that read “Justice For Garrett” with a picture of the boy. One huge sign as you’re entering Potsdam reads in big black letters, “Unsolved Murder”.
 
Tandy Cyrus, the boy’s mother, has joined Mary Rain on the campaign trail, and Rain has capitalized on her presence to attack Duvé viciously for not prosecuting the case. (It’s widely believed police may have a suspect in mind, but don’t have enough evidence to go to court.)
 
Potsdam is Duvé’s hometown. If sympathy for the slain boy’s mother and frustration with the lack of prosecution peels away support from Duvé’s geographical strength, Rain may pull off a victory.

UPDATE:  7pm.  Election night factoid:  According to the NYS board of elections there are 11,016,685 “active registered” voters in New York.  Follow the latest updates on voting on the ballot props at the BOE’s website here.

UPDATE:  6:50.  Eager voter!  A woman crashed her car into the fire hall in Theresa today, in Jefferson County, as folks were voting inside.  No injuries reported and the vote continues there using a different door…according to the Watertown Daily Times, the driver was on her way to vote when the mishap occurred.  She apparently suffered minor back pain.

UPDATE:  6:40 pm:  Other politics:  Gay marriage advances again, this time in Illinois. Read about it here.

PDATE:  6:30pm:  A big test today for two new Adirondack green groups.  This election season has seen a fascinating effort by newer, smaller Adirondack environmental groups to redefine the debate over the NYCO minerals land swap proposal in the Adirondacks.   This had looked like a shoo-in.  But activists like Dan Plumley at Adirondack Wild and Peter Bauer at Protect the Adirondacks have waged a smart, low-budget campaign using social media and free news and blog media coverage to spread their opposition message.  Will that be enough to offset NYCO’s media ad budget, along with the support for the swap from bigger groups like the Adirondack Council and the Adirondack Mountain Club?  We’ll see in a few hours.  But if they pull it off, this will be a big statewide victory for Protect and Adk Wild.

UPDATE:  5:50pm:  NATIONAL PICTURE.  A lot of big races on the ballot today, from governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia to big mayoral races around the US.  NPR has a great primer on the contests worth watching.

UPDATE:  5:30pm:  The other controversial DA’s race in the North Country?  David Sommerstein had a fascinating look this week at the St. Lawrence County DA’s race.  An equally heated fight has developed in Washington County’s prosecutor race.  Incumbent Republican Kevin Kortright is facing Republican challenger Assemblyman Tony Jordan.  It’s been a bitter contest and the Glens Falls Post Star endorsed the challenger.  Read details here.

UPDATE:  5:10 pm:  The long arm of Mayor Rabideau?  Voters in Plattsburgh choose a new mayor today.  Chris Knight at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise reported this week that Saranac Lake and former Plattsburgh Mayor Clyde Rabideau has been supporting independent candidate Chris Rosenquest.

“I did give him some advice on how to write news releases, basic news release 101, and just general advice about how to go door to door,” Rabideau said. “Just basic stuff, as a friend.”

Rosenquest faces Republican James Calnon and Democrat Mark Tiffer in today’s vote.  Remember, polls close at 9pm.

UPDATE:  4:40 pm.  Women mayors advance in Upstate NY.  So New York City won’t have a woman as mayor,  after Christine Quinn flamed out in hte Democratic primary.  But Capital New York notes that women are on track to lead three of upstate New York’s biggest cities, Albany, Rochester and Syracuse.

If successful, Lovely Warren in Rochester and Kathy Sheehan in Albany will be the first women to lead their respective cities. Stephanie Miner was elected the first female mayor of Syracuse in 2009 and is hoping for another term. All are Democrats.

UPDATE 4:20 pm:  New York City is preparing to elect a liberal-progressive mayor tonight, a huge pendulum swing from the Bloomberg-Giuliani era.  Do elections matter?  Big changes appear to be underway for NY’s biggest community.  Does anyone know if Mayor-in-waiting de Blasio has ever come to the Adirondack-North Country?

UPDATE 3:40 pm:  Green Party rising?  One of the more interesting hyper-local races on the ballot this year is in the town of Jay in Essex County.  Fred Balzac, who has run repeatedly in the past, is seeking a seat on the town council again as a Green Party candidate.  The race has gotten feisty at times.  Shawn Kittle at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise has a preview here.  Can a Green Party candidate capture an elected seat this time around?  We’ll find out later tonight.

UPDATE 3:30 pm:  Want a quick look at races in the Old Forge area?  The Adironack Express’s Megan Ulrich lines it out here.

UPDATE 3:20 pm:  Looks Governor Andrew Cuomo is robo-calling in an effort to push through the casino gambling proposition (#1) but isn’t taking an outspoken stand on the Adironack land swap amendments (#4 and #4) according to the Albany Times-Union.

It’s possible though that by drawing more New Yorkers’ attention to the flip side of the ballot, he’ll raise the number of people outside the North Country who are signaling yes or no on the Adirondack props.

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So the polls have been open since morning.  People are deciding a wide range of big-ticket items that will shape New York and the North Country.

As of tomorrow morning we’ll have a new Plattsburgh mayor, a new Canton mayor, we’ll have settled some long-debated land swap proposals, opened (or closed) the door to new casino gambling in the Empire state, and more.

This one page will give you a ton of information about what’s at stake.  We’ll be blogging through the evening with results and new information.  To get us started, chime in with how you voted and why.

NYCO land proposal?  Racquette Lake Township 40 issue?  The DA’s race in St. Lawrence County? What got you to the ballot box this election season?

And what’s up with all the office-holders running unopposed this year?   (This list from the Glens Falls Post Star is depressing.)  Is it a good thing that in an election year a lot of the ballot doesn’t offer real options?

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9 Comments on “Vote 2013 Live Blog: Join the Conversation”

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  1. Jamie Larche says:

    No to NYCO. As a neighbor of the mines, I saw the defacing of landscape and deforestation caused by the mining firsthand. Not only are the damaging the natural landscape, but they are also displacing many species of insects, birds, reptiles, and mammals that are native to that area. I have not seen a clear plan regarding how NYCO plans to restore the land it will acquire back to it’s original condition. The hauling trucks (which I believe are contracted out to a company at least 55 miles away from NYCO’s Willsboro base) run approximately 26 miles round-trip multiple times a day, 5 days a week on a steep and windy residential road, causing increased pollution and safety hazards.
    Our region needs sustainable jobs and a sustainable environment. Mining a natural resource for profit is not sustainable. Once the resource is gone, it’s gone. It ia not drobt page bews that the Earth has a finite amount of natural resources. Once the next 200 acres is cleaned out, then what’s next? Forever Wild in the Adirondack park was enacted to prevent this very issue from being an issue. NYCO should look into alternative methods of profit and invest in the advancement and education of its workers instead of making land deals and urging people to go against principle to increase their profit margin.

  2. Jamie Larche says:

    I would also like to add that I attempted to fix the typos above and they still prevailed in their incorrect form. That sentence should read, “It’s not front page news…”. Also, many of my family members worked for NYCO, and I understand and appreciate how vital a large employer is to the local economy. Also, I am a former neighbor of both the Lewis mines on The Seventy Rd and the Willsboro mines on Mountain View Drive.

  3. No on gambling because the process has been so badly rigged by Emperor Andrew that I have zero confidence it will be implemented fairly.

    Yes on Township 40 because it’s really a no-brainer.

    No on NYCO because it makes a mockery of the concept of Forever Wild.

    No on the judicial age thing because it’s a dumb mishmash and they should raise the retirement age across the board instead.

  4. I have seven elected offices on my ballot. Only one is contested and that one (county judge) is one where the candidates are banned from saying anything of substance.

    It’s not a good sign when a newspaper’s list of unopposed candidates includes the phrase Continue On Next Page.

  5. Paul says:

    I am glad to see some people on the ballot that don’t have gray hair (unlike myself!). One problem with politics is that there are too many old people running the show.

    At the 1st Continental congress Washington was 42, Adams was 39, Jefferson was 31, and Madison was 23. Look at all those old battle axes in DC!

  6. Jim Bullard says:

    No to casinos. There are 14 in the state already. That’s enough. Those choosing to go to Atlantic City or Vegas are unlikely to be dissuaded by building more casinos in NY.

    Yes to settling the land title dispute in Raquette Lake. It’s gone on long enough.

    No to NYCO. I really do sympathize with the need for jobs but that amendment was to do exactly what the Forever Wild clause was written to prohibit. It basically thumps its nose at Forever Wild and does it anyway.

  7. Paul says:

    Yes, on gambling because most people are okay with gambling even though most of them (like me) never do it. I don’t like the fact that it (as always) gives the shaft to the native Americans.

    Yes, on township 40 since those folks deserve a break even though this is the same principal as the NYCO prop (swapping forest preserve land to a private entity with little benefit to the state and no clear deal to cover the land we will get in exchange (“the mockery” that Brian describes?)

  8. Pat Nelson says:

    The question “What got you to the ballot box this year?” surprised and dismayed me. What got me to the ballot scanner is the same thing that has gotten me to the ballot box, voting machine or scanner for every election I have been eligible to vote in since I was 21 (that was voting age back in the olden days). If we don’t all take the opportunity to be heard, pretty soon we won’t have that opportunity. The advocates of one dollar one vote are already trying hard to drown us out.

    To get off my soap box and turn to the ballot box: No to casinos because they will dilute the major source of pubic services on the res. Yes to Civil Service Credit for disabled veterans no matter when it is certified. Yes to excluding sewage facilities from debt limits. No to both land swaps because of the precedent. Yes to raising some judicial retirement ages because it is a good start toward raising all.

  9. wakeup says:

    Paul the life expectancy back then was about 35 to 40. lol

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