It happens in a variety of places and for a variety of reasons: political parties get complacent with their status and lose focus. It happens on all levels of government. It has happened to Republicans in the Town of West Seneca.
It was not all that long ago that the Democratic Party dominated all offices in West Seneca. But whether it was the actions of officeholders or the party leadership, all of that changed. Even though there are more registered Democrats than Republicans, Republicans held all the offices. The Republicans seem to be letting things slip.
Change got rolling last year. The town justice appointed by the Republican-controlled Board resigned. The party substituted a candidate light in experience as their candidate in November, Chelsea MacDonald. Ms. MacDonald lost in November to Democrat Paul Michalek Jr. Board efforts to appoint Ms. MacDonald as town prosecutor failed because of legal issues concerning her appointment.
Then there was a seat on the Board occupied by Republican Jeff Piekarec. Mr. Piekarec resigned after issues arose about his disclosure of planned town board actions to non-Board individuals prior to a board meeting.
A month later the town Board appointed Marc Priore to replace Mr. Piekarec. Priore ran in 2024 for an Assembly seat, losing to incumbent Pat Burke.
It seems that neither West Seneca Republicans nor the Town Board did much vetting. They held no public interviews for the vacant position.
It was subsequently disclosed that Mr. Priore had some serious issues concerning personal financial matters. Priore resigned last week after just a month on the town Board.
West Seneca Democrats have nominated Jeff Quain for the vacant seat. Quain is an economic development professional with experience in local, state, and federal government. He holds a master’s in public administration degree from Binghamton University.
There will be a campaign for the office over the next three-and-a-half months to fill the seat so a legitimate public review of the candidates will occur, with the voters holding the ultimate say of who will serve in that seat.
Proposed changes in the Election Law in Buffalo
The City of Buffalo has a Charter Revision Commission charged with studying operations of the city government and offering proposed changes to the City Charter for consideration by city voters.
Charter Commissions basically set their own procedures for their reviews and recommendations. I served on the most recent Erie County Charter Revision Commission in 2024 which had several recommendations for changes in the county’s basic law. We had staff assistance provided by the County Legislature.
As Buffalo’s Commission proceeds with its work a citizens group, the Western New York RCV Coalition, chaired by Unite NY, has offered suggestions to the Commission concerning changes in the state Election Law that the group would like to see enacted for Buffalo elections. The proposed changes would “consider semi-open primaries, ranked choice and expanded ballot access on the November ballot.” The Commission last week voted against placing those proposals before the voters.
The Coalition gathered “nearly 500 signatures” on a petition supporting their efforts. They also reported on a poll they conducted that showed strong support for the proposed changes.
The Election Law changes the Coalition is supporting require state legislation regardless of any local action concerning their suggested changes. Here is a summary:
Open primaries which, I assume, would allow all 147,000 registered voters in Buffalo, regardless of their party affiliation or non-affiliation, to vote in political party primary elections of their choice. “Semi-open” primaries?
Reducing the number of signatures required for independent candidates to get on the ballot.
Allow ranked choice voting in elections that would, I assume, operate like the election procedures in New York City, where voters when voting indicate who their first, second, third, etc. preferences would be for an office. The candidate who finishes last would be eliminated with their votes re-assigned to their second choice, with the process continuing until one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.
A press release from Unite NY states that “Since 2011, Buffalo’s nine Common Council districts have had 36 opportunities for general election contests. Only 13 were contested. The remaining 23 races — 64% — featured no opposition.”
Some observations about these proposals;
The requested changes are more properly directed to the state Legislature, which approves changes to the Election Law.
I am a long time Democrat, so take my comments as you choose, but I don’t like the option of becoming a Democrat, Republican, Conservative, or Working Families Party member for one day, namely Primary Election Day. Such a change could lead to shenanigans with all parties.
I agree that the number of signatures for an independent election line should be reduced, but I would go further and have a look at all signature requirements. All parties have been having an increased challenge with gathering signatures. There are fewer party committee members to do the work.
For a ranked choice voting system to work you need one key ingredient: candidates. As previous posts on this blog have reported we have a shortage of interested candidates. In Erie County in recent years there have been many elections with only one candidate. The Coalition notes that there were only 13 contested elections for seats on the Common Council out of 36 opportunities over the past 15 years. The other part of the story, however, is that in 11 of those 13 contested elections there were only two candidates on the ballot, so in effect, the voters already did the ranking on their own.
Buffalo is not New York City. You don’t need ranked choice voting when there are only one or two candidates on the ballot.
In the 2025 primary and general elections for mayor of Buffalo total voter turnout was less than 30 percent. That experience is more common than unique in Erie County and beyond. Voters do not have an interest in elections.
The hard division of voters into extreme camps on the left and right leaves voters in the center saying, “I’m not interested.” Until we all can figure out how to change that any reforms of the electoral process will have very limited value.
Bluesky @kenkruly
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