Despite some interesting races elsewhere in the city, voter enthusiasm in the Morningside Heights area seems to have remained low Tuesday, with few residents turning out to vote in the primaries for this year’s local elections.
All of New York’s state senators and assemblymen were up for re-election this year, as
they are every two years, but competition for seats in Albany was sporadic at best.
While a few nominations were hotly contested, many went uncontested. And since most parts of the city have a Democratic majority, these primaries are often the decisive ones, with Republican candidates not even appearing on the ballot in November during some elections.
“Turnout is largely based on where there are interesting contests,” said Jerry Skurnik of Prime New York, a political consulting firm which also sells data to campaigns. “A year like this, where some neighborhoods literally have nothing on the ballot, rarely gets people to turn out.”
Those that did turn out in the area were largely voting for Manhattan’s Surrogate Court and Civil Court openings, which were contested. The Surrogate Court is responsible for appointing and managing lawyers to deal with estates and with individuals who have no wills or other legal executor.
As of press time, results for the three-way race were not yet available. The candidates were Nora Anderson, Milton Tingling, and John Reddy, Jr.
“Surrogate judges are important if you’re committed to gay rights,” said one woman, who preferred not to be identified, outside the polling station at Riverside Church.
She explained that surrogate justices and the lawyers they appoint need to be sensitive to persons and property who, although they have no legally-binding next of kin, have relatives stemming from same-sex partnerships who may have wishes or requests.
Poll workers at Riverside Church said about 50 people had come through the polls as of 7:30 Tuesday night, even though polls in New York City stay open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wien lounge, the area’s other polling station, was filled only with a few bleary-eyed attendants.
The one city race that has received considerable attention is the 64th State Assembly District contest on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in which incumbent Sheldon Silver defeated two challengers. Silver’s main opponent, Paul Newell, was seen by analysts as one of many candidates around the country trying to ride the wave of anti-establishmentarianism inspired by the U.S. presidential campaign of Barack Obama.
Silver, who has been speaker of the state assembly since 1994, was facing his first serious challenge since he was first elected in 1976. In Albany’s often top-heavy politics, the speaker of the assembly is widely regarded as one of a three-man oligarchy along with the senate majority leader and the governor.
Long-standing political tension came to a head in District 72, which includes Marble Hill, Washington Heights, and Inwood, where incumbent state assemblyman Adriano Espaillat beat out city councilmember Miguel Martinez. The two have a complicated relationship, having collaborated with each other in the past until a recent falling out.
But the zeal of the presidential race did not seem to spread anywhere outside of lower Manhattan. “People are energized by the national race, but not so energized that they’re going to come out to vote for civil court,” said Skurnik.
The solitary voter at Riverside Church, wearing an Obama campaign “Yes, We Can!” t-shirt, was similarly downbeat. “Most people I know are totally obsessed with the presidential race,” she said. “But I don’t think that carries over to these elections.”
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