Some off-year elections, there are local races which draw crowds. This year, there really weren’t any of those, races which keep people up waiting for the final ballots so their candidate wins. This year, the big contest involved a local native seeking a full-term in New York’s highest post, Governor Kathy Hochul.
That race was amazingly expensive and the challenger, Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, wasn’t initially regarded as a threat in a state with far more Democrats than Republicans. Zeldin pushed very hard and used crime as his bag issue, particularly after a shootout right outside his front door. Republican Erie County Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr says the campaign fire showed locally.
“The turnout seemed to be pretty consistent throughout Erie County. It wasn't necessarily the down-ballot races that were drawing the turnout. I think it was more a situation on the national scene, as well as the tightening of the governor's race, in the last few weeks that really spurred people's interest to come out to cast ballots.”
Hochul won Erie County by nearly 20-thousand votes in Election Day unofficial returns, not necessarily a mammoth victory margin for a county resident.
Still, she’s the first governor from Erie County since Grover Cleveland. He left the job in 1886 to become President of the United States.
Elections Commissioner Mohr says the big voter sources outside of the City of Buffalo were large suburban towns.
“It seemed to be steady throughout the entire county. I don't think there was one area that exceeded voter turnout more than others. If there would be others, there would have been the Town of Amherst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca. Those areas seemed to be particularly high, at least in the early voting.”
It will be almost a month before the Board of Elections certifies the vote totals, after canvassing the paper ballots from the voting machines, military ballots and absentee votes. So far, there don’t seem to be any races close enough to await the final certification for a decision.
