Don’t Forget — Thursday, Sep. 13 is Primary Day!!!

Less polling locations are available than usual due

Usually elections are held on Tuesdays, but the 2012 state and local primary elections were postponed until Thursday this week, in deference to 9/11. Another twist has been thrown voter’s way, as the Board of Elections has decided late in the game to reduce the number of polling stations from 80 to 17.

They said this is due to expected low turnout and in an effort to save money. The Board of Elections said they will save $200,000 by cutting back on locations, a reduction of approximately $300,000 in costs to $100,000 in costs.

But activists seeking to change the power structure in the Conservative and Republican parties say something smells wrong in the way the matter has been handled. People have not been adequately notified, activists claim. Former Conservative Party chairman and current leader of a movement to take control of the Conservative Party, Nick Longo, said, “I think it’s to confuse the voters. I am thinking of suing the Board of Elections.”

Lawrence Stone, an activist seeking to put new Republicans in committee seats said he believes the Board of Elections actions are “highly questionable.”

Stone said, “This new crop of Republicans has the courage of their convictions and are unaffected by the party bosses intimidation tactics to thwart their recruitment efforts as evident by the more than 60 new committee members they added to the party this year.”

The list on the BOE website which describes where the polling sites are available, uses a plethora of indecipherable abbreviations and does not include addresses.

The following locations will have have polling stations: In Clarkstown, Monterey, St. Francis, Upper Nyack Elementary, St. Paul’s, Street School Community Center; In Haverstraw, King’s Daughter Library and the Youth Center; in Orangetown, Pearl River High School and Orangetown Town Hall; in Ramapo, Kakiat Elementary School, “Parness” (sic), Suffern Library, Fleetwood School, “Sloatsburg,” “Yeshiva,” Elmwood Elementary; and in Stony Point, all voters will meet at the RHO building.

If you want to see which location in your town your district is voting in, visit http://rocklandgov.com/files/2413/4736/6899/Consolidated_Poll_Sites.pdf.

As detailed last week in the Rockland County Times, some of the hotly contested races include the 97th Assembly District Democratic and Conservative Party primaries. Democratic Party-endorsed candidate Monroe’s Myrna Kemnitz is going up against Ramapo’s Aron Weider and Gerard McQuade, also of Monroe.

Weider is hoping for a strong turnout from the Ramapo religious community, while McQuade is supported by the Kiryas Joel religious community in Ramapo. Kemnitz, who enjoyed support from the religious community when she ran two years ago, caused waves this week, when she sent out mailers playing the “religious community” card, telling voters that the other candidates could not be counted on to look after the entire district’s interests.

In Stony Point, Republican Assembly voters will have a chance to choose between Goshen Mayor Kyle Roddey and conservative reformist Colin J. Schmitt along with write-in candidate Mark Levy; and Conservative Party voters will have a choice between Roddey and writing in Colin J. Schmitt.

In Haverstraw, former deputy mayor Ricky Sanchez is seeking to finally end his losing streak, as he challenges Emily Dominguez and Francisco Batista for one of the two village trustee seats.

  local election, politicians, primary elections, rockland county, voting