Letter from Anthony J. Casale

Local Election Turnout Is Vital

Congratulations to AllOtsego for taking steps to improve voter turnout in local elections. You correctly opine that these elections have the most immediate impact on our communities.

Your efforts to improve coverage, profile candidates, and inform voters of their stands on various issues can and should be effective.

On the contrary, a new law passed in Albany to move all elections to only even-numbered years will not produce the same result.

In a presidential or gubernatorial year, the focus is always on the larger statewide, congressional and state legislative races. Local elections will be drowned out by the din of large-scale campaign spending.

Since statewide, congressional and legislative races are listed first on the ballot, local offices will be relegated to the very end. While there may be more people voting, historical data confirms there is always some fall off as the voter moves from left to right on the ballot. As a result, local elections will suffer.

If efforts to overturn this ill-advised new law in the courts are not successful, New York voters should demand it be repealed.

In the interim, AllOtsego and other media outlets should ramp up efforts to promote turnout for local elections.

Anthony J. Casale
Cooperstown