Smooth Sailing With Small Numbers for Incumbent Trustees
Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown saw few voters during Tuesday's uncontested trustee elections.
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It's an election headline that could have been written well in advance.
Incumbent trustees Thomas Basher, Robert Hoyt and Mary McGee in Tarrytown; and incumbents Tom Capossela, David Schroedel and Karin Wompa in Sleepy Hollow were all approved for another 2-year term last night. All seats were uncontested.
Results for village elections were posted by 10 p.m. on Tuesday by both the Tarrytown Village Clerk and Westchester County Board of Elections (which runs Sleepy Hollow's elections).
Total votes were divided between those who chose to vote for candidates by party affiliation (Republican or Democratic parties) or independent affiliation (United Tarrytown, or Better Government in Sleepy Hollow). The results are as follows:
Sleepy Hollow
- Tom Capossela - 253 (Democratic, 185; Non-Party, 68)
- David Schroedel - 251 (Democratic, 190; Non-Party, 61)
- Karin Wompa - 243 (Democratic, 182; Non-Party, 61)
Tarrytown
- Thomas Basher - 247 (Democratic, 188; Non-Party, 59)
- Robert Hoyt - 247 (Democratic, 178; Non-Party, 69)
- Mary McGee - 246 (Democratic, 178; Non-Party, 68)
The total turnout was less than 4 percent of the voting-age population in each village. Despite an expected low turnout for the elections, inspectors for each of the 22 districts reported for duty as the polls opened at 6 a.m.
Polls were open in order to afford citizens the opportunity to write in their own nominations on the ballot. But, the voters who did turn up to vote yesterday expressed a desire, and obligation, to show their contentment with the candidates already in office.
"I like to show support for our candidates," said Amy Bianco, a Sleepy Hollow resident who voted at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center.
Cora Hubbard, a 15-year resident of Tarrytown, agreed.
"I always vote, it's the principle," she said when reporting to Temple Beth Abraham to vote in the village's 5th District.
Inspectors seemed to concur with the idea that a lack of opposition for positions does not mean citizens should ignore this vital part of their civic duty.
"People come out to validate the process," said Joan Wald, chairwoman of the Tappan Hill Elementary School polling station.
By mid-afternoon, Tappan Hill had received significantly more voters than many of the other districts. With 31 votes cast by 2 p.m., Wald, who's been involved with the polling center since 1998, attributed the figure to the district's demographic.
"We cover two districts [6, 74] that include Edgemont and The Crest," she said, "They are heavy voter populations."
Around the same time, Sleepy Hollow's 6th & 10th, 3rd and 9th Districts only had had five, two and two voters respectively. Similarly, Tarrytown's 5th district only had seven voters and the 3rd District had four.
Lorraine Taylor, a lifetime Sleepy Hollow resident, joked with fellow inspectors at the Sleepy Hollow Fire Department headquarters about the turnout—"We were hoping to set a new record—zero," she said.
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Sean Roach
1:21 pm on Wednesday, March 17, 2010
I suppose congratulations are in order! Anyone want to hypothesize why there was no competition this year? What do you think about next year's races?