Local Elections in Chautauqua County

SOME TOWNS SEE RESULTS:

Local government is where the most basic needs of civilization are provided — roads, water, sewer lines and police protection, just to name a few. Local politics is the easiest for citizens to take part in, the easiest for voters to sway — and the level of government people are least likely to participate in.

Accord-ing to a study for the OBSERVER, political participation in town elections across Chautauqua County was only 36 percent over the past 10 years.

What causes this is a matter of speculation, but Norm Green, Democratic election commissioner, believes it’s the absence of competitive races — and for this he blames Democrats in Republican-controlled towns for not challenging the incumbents.
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It’s no surprise the vast majority of towns in Chautauqua County — 20 of 27 — are run by Republicans, and Democratic challengers are hard to come by. In November 2005, with elections taking place in every town in the county, nine council races were uncontested — all but one in Republican towns.

But in the seven Democratic towns, Republican candidates seem eager to challenge the incumbents. In 2005, 18 town supervisor positions were up for grabs and only three incumbents were challenged, all Democrats — Pat Tyler, D-Ellicott; Richard Purol, D-Dunkirk; and Ken Bochman, former Democratic supervisor of Charlotte who was ousted by another Democrat. In contrast, eight Republican incumbents won an additional term in 2005 without any challenge from the opposing party. ‘‘You always see Republicans putting names on ballots to give people a choice. You have to give that party credit,’’ Green said.
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According to Niebel, it’s possible low voter turnout is attributable to general satisfaction with the way the towns are being run. It can also be attributed to the fact that there’s no Democratic or Republican way to pave a road — no real reason for an incumbent to be challenged unless he or she is doing a bad job.