There will be at least three people to serve you when you come to vote at one of the many local polling places, so you should have no trouble navigating whatever system you face. Sleepy Hollow chose to use paper ballots and open carousels this time around, while Tarrytown has machines with that satisfying click of the curtain.
Sleepy Hollow got a head start, opening polling places at 6 a.m., verses Tarrytown's 7 a.m. But things are slow, if steady, all over.
"It's early yet," said Bernice Hunter, a volunteer from Ossining, sitting at a table for SH District 2 in the Union Hose station with Belinda Elseroad of Hawthorne, and Chrintina Bradley of Valhalla.
Poll inspector George Hernandez, of Sleepy Hollow, will vote at lunch in his district elsewhere but he tends to vote by party (Republican) and tends not to have a candidate. Today he said he'll at least vote for current Trustee Karin Wompa, a "nice lady" with whom he's familiar.
SH District 1 had the most voters so far, with 16 by 8:45 a.m.
In Tarrytown's Main Street Firehouse, district 3, there had been seven voters by 9:15 a.m. Volunteer David Aukland, of Tarrytown, said he's seen years where there were only seven voters all day – less than one per hour – so already things would be better today. "It's important that there's opposition, but there doesn't seem to be much campaigning around that," he said.
Aukland has been volunteering since he retired, he said, and "loves to get plugged into the community in this way." As few voters as there are, "you have to keep the system going otherwise it all falls apart."
The firehouse here was staffed entirely by retired Tarrytowners, Eleanor Cornett, Helen Meehan, and Barney Parra. Cornett, when she heard that Sleepy Hollow opened at 6 a.m. said, "I'm glad I'm not working over there."
Finally, there was a voter, and one for whom this vote really holds special significance. Michelle Casarella, the sister of , one of two men who died tragically in a manhole a few years back, said she was eager for administrative change last year and hopes for it again now.
"We ask a question and it's 'put it in writing.' I get that there's legal issues, but it's not open government," Casarella said. She characterized this election as oddly quiet, having receiving only one piece of campaign literature in the mail. "You would assume they would debate. I know who the Republican women are and what they're about but you wouldn't unless you're a native Tarrytowner."
Did she feel her vote this time would make a difference? "No chance," Casarella said, but that doesn't stop her from trying. "It's time to stir the pot and get other people in there, coming in with fresh ideas instead of the same old."
Some of the candidates can be seen around the villages by day and all will gather in various locations tonight as results come in. Dan Scott and his fellow SHIPmates (Sleepy Hollow Independent Party) will be gathering at his Ichabod Landing home this evening. While polls are open, Sean Roach might be spotted in inner-Village locations and at .
The Sleepy Hollow women – Wompa, Susan MacFarlane, and Jennifer Lobabto-Church – will be hanging out to tally votes at on Valley Street.
In Tarrytown, Eleanor and Christine Miscioscia, of Republican/Tarrytown First lines will offer anyone who asks a ride to the polling station. (They can be contacted at cell numbers 914-310-8119 and 914-623-2345). By 4:30 p.m., mother and daughter will be at the Vets Building at 57 Main Street to prepare to tally the votes as they come in with fellow candidate Alison Boldyrev. "Hopefully we will be happy campers," Eleanor said.
Finally, the incumbents of Tarrytown – Tom Basher, Robert Hoyt, and Mary McGee – have chosen as their evening venue.
You can get all the results you need later on Patch so stay tuned!
For all the information on candidates and polling places:
Click here for
Click here for
