Governor Kathy Hochul is attempting to secure a full four-year term on the Democratic and Working Families line against Republican and Conservative endorsed candidate Lee Zeldin. Zeldin currently is the 1st Congressional District Representative. Hochul took over as Governor following Andrew Cuomo‘s resignation in August 2021. For the Lieutenant Governor’s race, Antonio Delgado is running with Hochul and Alison Esposito is running with Zeldin

Voters from Chautauqua County across to Stueben County and now part of Erie County will vote on a new representative for the new 23rd Congressional District. Republican Nick Langworthy is facing Democrat Max Della Pia for that seat. The pre-2020 census district was formerly led by Tom Reed for the last 10 years and is currently represented by Joe Sempolinski.

Longtime incumbent and Democrat Chuck Schumer is running for re-election against Republican Joe Pinion and LaRouche party candidate Diane Sare.

Two other statewide offices on the ballot include incumbent State Attorney General Letitia James on the Democratic and Working Families line facing Michael Henry on the Republican and Conservative lines.

And incumbent State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on the Democratic and Working Families lines is facing Paul Rodriguez on the Republican and Conservative lines.

In State Legislative races, incumbent State Senator George Borrello is running on the Republican and Conservative lines for the 57th District against Dan Brown on the Democratic line. Incumbent Assemblyman Andy Goodell is also running on the Republican and Conservatives lines against Democrat Sandra Lewis.

In Chautauqua County races, the County Sheriff race is unopposed with incumbent Jim Quattrone running on the Republican and Conservative lines.

There are two special elections for the Chautauqua County Legislature.

In District 7, incumbent John Penhollow is running on the Republican and Conservative lines against Barbara Colt who is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines. Penhollow was appointed to fill the seat after Mark Odell resigned in July 2021.

In District 10, Republican incumbent Jaime Gustafson is running unopposed. She was appointed to fill the seat after Ken Lawton resigned due to moving out of the district. District 10 represents the southwest side of Jamestown, the Village of Lakewood and part of the Town of Busti.

In the City of Jamestown, a special election for the Ward 5 City Council seat is being held between incumbant Bill Reynolds on the Republican and Conservative lines and Democrat Doug Lawson. The winner of that race will fill out the remainder of that seat’s term following Grant Olson declining to take the seat after the 2021 election.

There are five seats open for the 8th Judicial State Supreme Court Justices. Running on all four lines of Democratic, Republican, Conservative and Working Families is Craig Hannah. Kelly Vacco and Gerald Greenan III are running on the Democratic, Republican, and Conservatives lines. Shannon Heneghan is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines. And Joseph Lorigo is running on the Republican and Conservatives lines.

There is one proposition located on the back of the ballot.

The Clean Water, Clean Air, and Clean Jobs Environmental Bond Act would, if approved, authorize New York State to borrow $4.2 billion to fund environmental protection, natural restoration, resilience, and clean energy projects.

The State Legislature has already approved the plan, which allows the state to sell the bonds immediately after approval. But in order to sell the bonds, the state has to get approval from voters.

Polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. in Chautauqua County.

For all of WRFA’s Election coverage, visit https://www.wrfalp.com/election-2022/

For voting information, including sample ballots and voting locations, visit VoteChautauqua.com

We’ll have Election Night coverage starting at 8pm tonight on 107.9 WRFA-LP.

On Tuesday, the city’s Reapportionment Commission held its second meeting of the year and further looked into the process of drawing ward boundaries. The commission also voted to move forward on drawing two maps – one that would maintain the current number of six wards, and another which would remove a ward and reduce the number down to five.

The idea of removing the ward seat was put forward by commission member and chair of the city’s Democratic party Jim Walton. He said the city’s shrinking population justifies eliminating a ward, adding that he also would support removing all three at large seats as well, “I’d like to get rid of all the at-large numbers. I’d like to go to five council people. The trend even with the county is to end up with less people, less legislators cause there’s less people.”

Walton added that each council member is $5,000 a year in salary, so by eliminating four seats, it would help to save money, “If you take out four that’s $20,000. If you wind up taking out two that’s $10,000. That’s the advantage. Everyone is looking for smaller government. I think we ought to be out there championing that cause instead of trying to figure out a way we can stay in the status quo as the population continues to decline.”

Not everyone on the commission was in favor of reducing the number of wards. Commission member Tony Dolce, who is also the current City Council President, voiced concern about an increased workload with fewer council members, “The problem with that is that it changes the whole structure of committees and work load and stuff like that because as it is you have four committees. Some people are on multiple committees. It’s a lot of extra work.”

In addition to his proposal, Walton put forward a draft map that contained only five wards. It will be developed into a more detailed, interactive map. Meanwhile, an updated six-ward map will also be created by tweaking the existing ward lines so that they all come within one percent of containing 4,785 residents – the number needed to have an equal number of residents in all six wards under the 2020 census count.

Commission chair Pete Johnson said city staff will develop two proposals in the coming weeks and the commission will meet again to review, “We’re going to see whether the current six wards can be tweaked to try to get a balance across those six, hopefully within 50 individuals, plus or minus. Then also to consider the possibility of moving from six down to five wards and what that might look like.”

The commission will meet again on May 24 to continue the discussion. Under the city charter, it is required to finalize and approve a plan by September 1.

New York State Court of Appeals

New York State Court of Appeals judges heard arguments Tuesday on the issue of whether the new congressional district maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered.

NBC News reports the lawsuit brought by a group of Republican voters challenges the legality of the new district maps, which were widely seen as likely to help Democrats gain seats in Congress and knock some incumbent Republicans out of office.

The court’s decision — which could come at any time — could play a crucial role in the battle for control of the U.S. House, where Democrats now enjoy a thin majority.

Judges repeatedly asked the Democrats’ attorneys about what should happen next if the high court decides to strike down the maps. But they also seemed wary about overstepping their authority.

The Republicans contend in their lawsuit the Democrat-controlled Legislature violated provisions in the state constitution that barred the redrawing of districts for partisan gain. New York’s governor and legislative leaders deny they bent the rules, but two lower courts have already ruled the district maps were drafted specifically to give Democrats an advantage.

The Appellate Court Division in Rochester last week gave the Legislature a deadline of April 30 to come up with revised maps, or else leave the redrafting in the hands of a court-appointed expert. A third ruling against the maps could potentially upend the state’s planned congressional primary, now scheduled for late June.

Attorneys for Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders from her party say the maps address population shifts and unite similar minority and geographical communities. The attorneys urged the judges to allow lawmakers to fix any errors with particular districts.

The Democrats have also criticized computer simulations run by an elections analyst who testified for the Republican plaintiffs that the maps were gerrymandered.

A politically appointed commission was supposed to draw the new maps following the 2020 Census. But that body, comprised of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans, couldn’t reach consensus. The Democrat-led Legislature then stepped in and passed new maps of its own design.

Among other issues, the Court of Appeals was weighing whether the Legislature had the authority to do so. Some judges on Tuesday questioned whether Democrats followed the spirit of the reforms.

So far this election cycle, courts have intervened to block maps they found to be Republican gerrymanders in North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, and a Democrat gerrymander in Maryland. Such decisions have led to delayed primaries in North Carolina, Ohio and Maryland.

Jamestown City Council

The appointments for the City’s Reapportionment Commission have been set.

Jamestown City Council approved the mayoral appointments of Ellen Ditonto, Alyssa Porter, and Billy Torres to the commission. Jim Walton will represent the Democratic Party, Peter Johnson will represent the City Republican Party, and Steve Muscarella will represent the Conservative Party. Attorney Michael Panebianco will represent the Jamestown BAR Association. Council President Tony Dolce and Council member Brent Sheldon will be the council appointments.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said there isn’t a set schedule yet for when the Reapportionment Commission will meet to start the process of redrawing Ward District lines in the city.

He said with the Census count being ended early including people not wanting to answer their doors during a Pandemic in addition to not as many Census workers, he is concerned about an undercount, “Whether you are living in some type of transitional housing or whether you’re living in a permanent structure, those are very important to get, and we’re very concerned that is the case. But we are hearing some news reports that the Census Division is starting to look at those things again. I don’t know that we’ll see any changes, but we’ll take that into account as we go into this reapportionment.”

Sundquist said with the population loss, it’s up to the Reapportionment Commission to decide if the number of Wards or number of At-Large members is changed.

The new district lines would go into effect for the 2023 City Council election.

Legislators will consider a resolution to issuing $3.7 million dollars in bonds to purchase equipment and vehicles. They also will vote on $1 million dollars in bonds toward $4 million dollars in improvements at Jamestown Community College. That project will use $3,072,750 in grant funding.

A resolution for the Public Defender to lease space on the third floor of Jamestown City Hall will be voted on. The five-year lease of 4,147 square feet of space will cost $4,479 in 2022, increasing each year for the term of the lease up to $5,374 in 2026.

A new labor contract with Part-Time Deputy Sheriff’s will be considered. The contract with CSEA Unit 6322 includes salary increases of 5% for 2022; 5% for 2023; 3% for 2024; and 3% for 2025; and a longevity payment of $75 per year upon completion of three years of service.

The Legislature also will vote to appoint a reapportionment commission for the 2020 Census. This body will make recommendations for how boundaries for county legislature districts are changed based on the Census results.

The legislature also will consider a motion that’s in support of best practices to overcome COVID-19, including supporting the County Health Department in their efforts to get residents vaccinated and encouraging residents to wear masks.

The Legislature’s meeting takes place at 6:30 p.m. tonight in the Legislative Chambers of the Gerace Office Building. It is open to the public and will be livestreamed on Chautauqua County Government’s Facebook page.

Jamestown’s population is now 28,712, which reflects a lost of 2,434 people. The City of Dunkirk saw an increase of 180 people in the census for a total of 12,743.

Chautauqua County, overall, lost 5.4% of its population from 2010 for a total of 127,657 people.

Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties lost population as well with Cattaraugus seeing a 4.1% decrease and Allegany having a 5.1% decrease.

However, Erie County grew to more than 954,200 people from 919,000 a decade ago

New York State gained over 823,000 people for a total of 20,201,249 people. Still though, the state will lose a congressional seat in the redistricting process that will follow now that census data has been released. That process needs to be completed prior to the 2022 midterm elections.

“The high taxation, the over-regulation and an environment that’s just not friendly for business is causing us to lose seats, congressional seats, and lose population. Some will spin this by saying ‘Oh, we were expecting to lose two seats and we only lost one!’ and that’s like saying my new healthy lifestyle is working out great because I only gained 25 pounds and not 50.”

Borrello added in addition to losing the seat, that New York will lose influence and funding at the Federal level too.

In terms of apportionment, Borrello is concerned that leadership in Albany is trying to dismantle an Independent Redistricting Commission that was formed following a constitutional amendment in 2014,

“In fact, they passed bills last year that would dismantle this independent commission. It’s been absolutely panned by good government groups including the League of Women Voters who called this an absolute backward step into the old days of ‘three men in a room’ and yet that’s what the leadership is trying to do.”

Borrello said officials likely won’t know until January how districts will be redrawn.
County Executive PJ Wendel said while it was good New York only lost one seat, he questions where that redistricting will take place and how it affects Chautauqua County,

“I’m a firm believer that our connections to the Southern Tier are much greater than they are to that of Erie County, so I would hope that those that are able make this decision would consider that.”

Wendel also is concerned about funding that could be reduced or lost for the area with less representation for the state in Washington,

“A great deal of Federal money came from the sewer expansion project we have coming up, State and Federal money, so again it’s very concerning that those funding sources could be impacted. But we know what we have to do and have our work cut out in bringing people back to this area.”

Wendel added that his hope is that more people who can work remotely will move from larger urban areas to Chautauqua County as officials work to enhance broadband opportunities here.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is asking the New York State Attorney General to review the state’s legal option to challenge the decision that the state will lose a congressional seat. The request follows the U.S. Census Bureau’s announcement that New York lost the seat, having fallen 89 Census responses short of keeping all 27 seats.

Cuomo cited unprecedented challenges last year in getting residents counted including the pandemic, postal mail system, and what he calls illegal efforts that discouraged non-citizens and people of color from being counted.

The state’s delegation will shrink from 27 to 26. It is one of seven states losing a member of Congress as a result of the 2020 census. The state stands to lose out on more than political clout: The census also determines the distribution of $1.5 trillion in federal funding each year.

It is currently not clear which districts will be merged. Further information on the redistricting will be announced by August. New York lost two seats in the last census, in 2010.

New York, which has the 4th largest population, will still have the 4th most congressional seats in the US. The census also shows that, while New York’s population grew by 4.2%, there is a lack of people moving to the Empire State.

The state needed 89 more people to keep the congressional seat, which now shifts to Minnesota. Pennsylvania will also lose a congressional seat.

The process of gaining and losing congressional seats is done through apportionment. Apportionment is the process of dividing up the number of representatives or seats in the U.S. House of Representatives among the 50 states based on the population counts from the census.

The new congressional districts will take effect January of 2023 with the 118th Congress.

We’ll have reactions from our local elected officials on the Census news in Wednesday morning’s news.

• AUDIO ALSO AVAILABLE AT SOUNDCLOUD

The 2020 Census is now underway with local residents having received the first census mailer instructing them on how to fill out the census form online. To help raise awareness about the census and get the basic information for why it is important, WRFA’s Jason Sample recently talked with Edward Walker, Partnership Specialist with the New York Regional Census Center.