KINGSTON—Janice Metzler, a self-described “heavy Democrat,” was not at all shy about saying why voted for Steve Noble, the Democratic candidate for Kingston mayor.
“I just think he’s a really heartful soul and…he has children and he cares for the environment, which I’m interested in,” she said just after casting her vote at the Harry L. Edson Elementary School in Uptown Kingston.
“I find him very moral and kind, and he went to school with my daughter, and that helps, too. He’s young, and I like young people coming into office.”
Metzler was one of many voters across Ulster County participating in this year’s general election, which features local races, including one for county executive.
Voters about to cast their ballots on Tuesday at the Frog Alley Fire Station in Ward 2, Districts 1, 2. Photo by Paula Ann Mitchell
In that contest incumbent Democrat Michael Hein is being challenged by former Legislature Chairman Terry Bernardo, a Republican, who owns Skate Time 209 in Accord.
Also on the ballot in Ulster County are all the Legislature seats as well as races for the Kingston Common Council in wards 1, 3, 6 and 9.
The Indian Summer-like conditions on Tuesday were conducive to higher voter turnout, according to Victor Work, the Democratic Election Commissioner at the county Board of Elections.
“Good weather’s always good for voting,” he said. “It encourages the people to come out. They really can’t come up with any great excuse like it’s raining or snowing.
“And a lot of that has to do with whether they think there’s a reason to vote or whether they’ve been contacted by candidates and the candidates have given them a reason to go out and vote for them,” Work said.
By mid-afternoon, Work said voter turnout was not exceptional but said some poll sites were going “like gangbusters,” while others were not.
Kingston resident Janice Esposito cast her vote just after 2 p.m. at Harry L. Edson and said typically she votes straight Republican in every election.
She said based on what she’s read and heard, Ron Polacco was the best choice for mayor.
“When you personally don’t know the person themselves, all you can do is know from other people and what they’ve said and what you’ve read, and I heard a lot of good things,” she said.
Polls close at 9 p.m., and Work said results should be coming in shortly afterward.
He acknowledged that there have been issues accessing information quickly in past elections due to a “logistics problem” in getting the results back.
“We used to call them (results) in, however, we’ve discovered there are lots of errors in the call-ins, and so we, under state mandate, pull back one of the two cards in each voting system and upload them to the computer, so we have an absolute accurate record.
“However, you have places in the county that are an hour away, and we don’t have a lot of helicopters, so we don’t get those results very quickly, and that’s why it’s 10 or 10:30 before you have complete results.”
Work recommended the public go to voteulster.com and click on the opening page where there is a link with the latest updates.
“As the cards come in we update the website,” Work said.
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