Did you know that there are some village elections coming up in Albany County? If you live in the villages of Colonie, Voorheesville and Ravena, you probably do. Or maybe not.
So often these village elections fly under the radar, only making a blip on the rare occasion there is contested seat. This year, there are two such occasions — in Ravena and Colonie. The Ravena election has already seen some spirited activity, as Republicans try to unseat the Democratic incumbents for mayor and two trustees positions. In the Village of Colonie, there was some last-minute scrambling to clear up ballot confusion caused when Lawrence Warner went for the Conservative line in addition to the Independent line. (You can read more about that in reporter Billy DeLap’s story online at spotlightnews.com.)
These are the kinds of stories that get people to take notice, but for the most part, village elections are sleepy affairs.
Consider the uncontested race this year in Voorheesville and a string of uncontested races in the Village of Altamont in previous election cycles. Consider that the reason given for the attempt to disqualify Warner’s Conservative line on the Colonie ballot was because it just had never been done that way before. This, in a village that hasn’t seen a new candidate run for office in about 16 years. And consider that finding any information about these and past village elections will frequently have you sifting through multiple sources or may not even exist at all.
Nobody really expects a raging political debate when it comes to village elections, and considering these districts cover such a small area where political opponents are also neighbors (quite literally in the case of Colonie’s Warner and candidate Patrice Lockhart), it is not necessarily a bad idea to want to keep things low-key.
But when does low-key become apathy? And why bother with an elected leadership if the elections are pretty much a rubber stamp on the incumbents? The voter turnout is abysmally low in the uncontested races. The number of Voorheesville voters peaked at 118 in recent years, where the string of uncontested races stretch back until 1994. Even Democratic chairman of the Albany County Board of Elections Matt Clyne admitted that most people aren’t generally aware of villages elections unless they know someone on the ballot. Sure, those in power can say that people just aren’t seeking to unseat them. That may be true, and a lazy electorate shares the blame here, but it also makes us wonder if there’s a will and a way to wake up the electorate.
Furthermore, with the village clerk — an elected position — responsible for supervising the elections, there seems to be little incentive to make room for fresh blood unless one of the longtime officials decides to step down.
It’s time for those in village seats to use their position to encourage their constituency to seek their own roles in government and actively promote the election process by doing more than just posting notices at the requisite six locations. There are plenty of people who won’t respond, but there are probably a handful that will, having felt intimidated by a process that seemed entrenched and unwelcoming.
Maybe this can be done by making village elections more accountable by enlisting the Albany County Board of Elections’ help every time, not just when there is an issue. The record-keeping of current and past elections is spotty, at best, with most clerks unable to provide results from before their terms. That lack of oversight makes you wonder if anyone is taking these village elections seriously. We think it’s time they did.