By Sarah Hall
Editor
Roughly 5 percent of the village of Baldwinsville’s 4,502 registered voters made it to the polls last Tuesday to cast their ballots in the village election, reflecting a common trend in local contests.
And though the Onondaga County Board of Elections is encouraging local villages to move their elections to November to coincide with the general election, Baldwinsville Mayor Dick Clarke says B’ville won’t be doing so any time soon.
“Having the election in March keeps things at our level,” Clarke said. “Village issues get more attention.”
On Tuesday, Clarke, having earned 225 votes in an unopposed race, was returned to his seat, as were all three incumbent trustees, Mark Wilder (207 votes), Andy Dryden (178 votes) and Ruth Cico (167 votes). Challenger Eric Reinagel received 141 votes. According to the village website, 238 ballots were scanned at Village Hall, including eight write-in votes, and 25 absentee ballots were submitted.
Reinagel had said during his campaign that the election should be moved to the fall.
“People are more aware of November elections. People are not as aware of March elections,” he said. “Not as many people come out as the November elections. The statistics bear that out. Other communities have made those changes. We should, too.”
Reinagel said he was appreciative of those who backed his run for office.
“I had a lot of support that came out for me — for my first time out, going door to door, I got a lot of positive vibes,” he said. “I think the simple thing I learned [while campaigning] is the generosity of our residents. It makes me want to throw a community block party for my neighbors.”
Reinagel said while he hasn’t ruled out running again in two years, the lack of community participation in the election was “disappointing.”
“We need more participation in government,” he said. “It’s a little scary. The village oversees a $4 million budget, and [5] percent of the population is expressing [their opinion on] how that money is being used.”
While he, too, wishes more people were interested in village issues, Clarke said moving the election to November wasn’t the answer.
“A lot of people don’t vote. They don’t pay attention to what’s going on,” he said. “They’re not concerned, as long as there’s no big issue. They don’t even know who the people are. So they just continue to vote down the [party] line. I don’t think you get a true representation of what people in the village think.”
Clarke said the village doesn’t generally have major issues come election time, because they’re addressed before it gets to that point.
“You have a problem or an issue, you call my office and I personally will look into it,” he said. “I will sit down face-to-face with you. You don’t get the same attention at the state level.”
Clarke pointed out that village politics have little to do with national politics—rather than Republicans and Democrats, on March 20, residents voted for members of the Village Party or the Honeycomb Party. Meanwhile, moving the elections might cause the village to change the start of its fiscal year from March 1 to Jan. 1.
“My treasurer has a shudder through her whole body [when we talk] about changing that,” he said.
But, again, the major concern is that the village itself would get lost in the shuffle of a major election.
“We have a pretty important governor’s election coming up in the fall,” Clarke said. “A lot of Republicans are going to show up to vote against him, which would maybe affect our results. That election would turn on us by people who don’t have any interest.”
Clarke said the character of the village has always set it apart from other places in Central New York.
“B’ville has always been a little separated from Syracuse than other communities — East Syracuse and Solvay and other villages, you can’t really tell the difference when you drive through them,” he said. “But we’re separated by the Thruway and 690 and it feels like we’re about 100 miles from Syracuse, even though we’re only a 12-minute drive. We’ve always sort of been our own little group out here.”
In order to maintain that autonomy, Clarke said, it’s important that the village maintain its own elections.
“People say, ‘You do it so no one shows up to vote, so you always win.’ I don’t want to win that way. I want to win because I do a good job,” he said. “Sure, more people would vote, but it’s not because they have concerns about the village. The people who vote in the spring, we assume they’re voting because they care.”
