This year’s ballot counts included 1,339 affidavit ballots and 3,609 absentee voters.  The total included 114 military and an additional 105 federal voters who are U.S. citizens with overseas addresses, and having had former residences in Chautauqua County. 

In New York State, an absentee ballot is issued to any voter who will is absent from the county on election day or physically unable to go to the polls.

An affidavit ballot is offered to every voter, without exception, who resides in the election district but is not in the poll book for any reason.  A total of 422 of the 1,339 cast affidavit ballots were not counted.  All voters who did cast an affidavit ballot will be notified by mail if their ballots were or were not counted.

“The voter turn out was significantly below average for a presidential year,” commented Democratic Election Commissioner Norman P. Green.  “There just wasn’t much excitement at the top of the ticket in our state.  It was a given that New York would be voting Democratic for president.”

Final election results can be found at www.votechautauqua.com and detailed election district results are available at the historical election result link on the webpage.

Republicans are now pinning their hopes on Assemblyman George Amedore’s race against Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk in the 46th District in the Albany area. Amedore trailed Tkaczyk by just 139 votes on election night. Elections officials in the five-county district began a recanvass of voting machines on Tuesday, which yielded no changes after a review in Albany and Schenectady counties. Residents in that district will now have to wait until the counting of absentee ballots, which will begin next week.

Regardless of the outcome of the race in the 46^th state senate district, Chautauqua County’s representative in the state Assembly – Andy Goodell (R-Jamestown) – says it’s unlikely the democrats will take control of the Senate because of a handful of rogue democrats in the Senate who often side with the GOP.

“Even if it switches over to Democrat control in terms of total numbers,  for the last two years there has been an independent coalition of democrats – four democrats – that often would work with the republicans on fiscal matters and things like that,” Goodell explained. “So it is possible you may end up with coalition government with republicans and this independent group of democrats. It’s hard say. In any event, it’s going to be very close. The republicans will either have one vote up or one vote down.”

The outcome of which party will control the Senate is being closely watched because it will also determine who will be part of the often criticized “Three Men in the Room” format of creating a state budget. Both the leader of the Assembly and the leader of the Senate  – along with the governor – are the key players of the budget process. Republicans would like to see a member of their party involved in that process, which for the past few years has been Senate Majority leader Dean Skelos – the republican from Long Island.

After election night, it appeared two Republican Senate seats in Poughkeepsie and Rochester would switch to Democrats leaving the chamber tied 31-31. Meanwhile, a new seat created earlier this year by the Republican majority to help seal its control of the upper chamber was too close to call on Election night. That race pitted Republican George Amedore against Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk in the 46th Senate District. The outcome will be determined by thousands of absentee ballots.

Democrats had sought to win the majority of the Senate, promising a progressive agenda that included raising the minimum wage. Republicans sought to hold the majority on a platform of jobs and fiscal control.

In the Assembly, Democrats easily continued their supermajority – holding 106 out of the 150 seats.

This will be Snyder’s fifth term as Seneca Nation president. He will replace outgoing President Robert Odawi Porter, who lost in his bid to serve as treasurer of the Seneca Nation. Instead, Rod Pierce from the Allegany territory was elected to serve as the nation’s treasurer. Geraldine Huff was elected clerk.

President Obama is joined on stage by his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia. (Photo: nytimes.com)

WASHINGTON – The 2012 Presidential Election is in the books. President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday night despite a fierce challenge from Republican Mitt Romney, prevailing in the face of a weak economy and high unemployment.

The president sealed his victory in Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire and Colorado, four of the nine battleground states where the two rivals and their allies spent nearly $1 billion on dueling television commercials. Democrats also won two more years of control of the Senate, and Republicans were on track to do likewise in the House.

The two rivals were close in the popular vote. Romney had 45.2 million votes, or 49 percent. Obama had 45 million, also 49 percent, with 65 percent of precincts tallied.

In Chautauqua County, Romney was the highest vote getter, receiving 53 percent (25,795) of the local votes. Obama came in with 44.9 percent (21,815). Of the third party candidates, Gary Johnson of the constitution party was the highest vote getter, garnering 465 – nearly 1 percent – of all votes cast in Chautauqua County.

Tom Reed

CORNING – Incumbent Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) won the race for the newly drawn New York 23^rd Congressional District and will serve as Chautauqua County’s next congressman, starting in January 2013. Reed defeated challenger Nate Shinagawa (D-Ithaca) by an unofficial margin of about 51 to 49 percent.

In Chautauqua County, Reed defeated Shinagawa by an unofficial tally of 24,558 (52.7 percent) to 22,042 (47.3 percent).

The race was much closer than anticipated, with it still being too close to call after more than 85 percent of the election districts had reported in. But Reed eventually did pull away and announce victory shortly after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night, although Shinagawa initially said he would wait to concede until after he was able to review the final results. However, within half-an-hour of Reed claiming victory, Shinagawa eventually conceded.

While the final numbers had yet to come in, Reed told the media that he is confident he will have won by a larger margin of victory than originally reported, adding that he won 10 of the 11 counties in the district. Reed also gave his reaction to the Presidential race, saying while he was upset Mitt Romney he’s willing to work in a bipartisan manner with reelected President Barack Obama and the U.S. Senate.

Following his concession speech, Nate Shinagawa spoke with WRFA and said that despite losing the race, he believes his campaign made a statement, showing that the 23rd Congressional District is by no means a “safe” district for the Republican Party. He says he also believes that his campaign has helped to pave the way for future Democratic congressional candidates in the Southern Tier. He added that it was still too early to say whether he’d have any interest in taking another crack at the seat in 2014.

Also last night, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand won reelection, easily defeating her opponent, Republican Wendy Long.

Andy Goodell

MAYVILLE – New York State Assemblyman Andy Goodell (R-Jamestown) will be heading back to Albany in January to represent the 150^th Assembly district. The incumbent easily defeated democratic challenger Dr. Rudy Mueller (D-Lakewood) by 10,000 votes. According to votechautauqua.com, Goodell unofficially received 28,810 votes – or 61 percent of the electorate. The total does not reflect absentee ballots.

Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean) will also be returning to Albany. She won a fourth consecutive full term in Albany, running unopposed. Young was first elected to the Senate in a special election in 2005 following the death of Pat McGee. She was elected to her first, full term in office in 2006.

In the Race for Chautauqua County Judge, incumbent Republican John Ward easily won reelection to a third consecutive term, defeating Democratic challenger William Coughlin. Ward received nearly 30,000 votes to Coughlin’s 17,000 – giving him a margin of victory of over 25 percent.

The only two other contested local races took place in to nearby towns. In the race for Carroll Town Council, Democrat Patty Ekstrom defeated republican Harold Whitford.  In the race for Busti Town Council, Todd Hanson ( R) defeated Bill Burk (D).

A complete rundown of all local elections can be found online at votechautauqua.com.

It wasn’t smooth sailing on election day for many areas of the country. CNN and other news outlets were reporting that Long lines and sporadic problems with voting machines caused snags in some key states. Voters waited for up to four hours in Virginia and three hours in some parts of south Florida, leading some to walk away before casting a ballot

Several complaints came out of Pennsylvania, including two cases in which a voting machine had to be recalibrated after voters complained that it incorrectly displayed their vote for president.

All sides are awaiting, in particular, a verdict from the nine battleground states whose votes will determine which man can piece together the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.

Meanwhile, there are also four other people running for president who’s names will appear on the local ballots. Candidate Jill Stein is running for the Green Party, Peta Lindsay is running for the Socialism and Lib party, Gary Johnson is running on the Libertarian ticket and Virgil Goode is running for the constitution party.

This year, there are 78,167 eligible voters in Chautauqua County. Of that total, 29,731 are Democrats, 26,119 are Republicans, and 24,844 are other affiliations or non-affiliated voters.

The 2008 Presidential election cycle saw 60,087 voters turn out in Chautauqua County and 2004 found 61,243 voters. That means it was nearly a 70-percent eligible turn out of Chautauqua County electors for each of the past two presidential races. That same number is expected this year.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D) is campaigning for her first full-term in office and is squaring off against Wendy Long (R).

Local residents will also be choosing a new U.S. Representative, thanks to recent redistricting that moves Chautauqua County into the NY 23^rd Congressional district, which spans the southern tier of the state. In that race, voters will choose between current congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) and Nate Shinagawa (D-Ithaca).

For state office, Senator Cathy Young (R-Olean) is running unopposed for her fourth full term in that office. Meanwhile, for the state assembly seat which now encompasses all of, and only, Chautauqua County, Republican incumbent Andy Goodell (R-Jamestown) will square off against Democratic challenger Dr. Rudy Mueller (D-Lakewood).

Finally, residents will also be voting for Chautauqua County Judge, which carries a ten-year term. In that race, incumbant  judge John Ward (R) will face challenger William Coughlin (D).

Other local races are also taking place in the towns of Busti, Carroll, Charlotte, Cherry Creek, Dunkirk, Harmony, North Harmony, Pomfret and Riply. The Village of Celoron also has a local race for village trustee.

Ballots for all municipalities in Chautauqua County are available at www.votechautauqua.com.