Grand Island chooses Bush, Brown, Hoyt

Island backs Bush for re-election

by Karen Carr Keefe
Grand Island Dispatch, November 5, 2004

Grand Island voters turned out in big numbers on a rainy and dreary Election Day and went with the national trend, backing the re-election of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. Locally the town, despite its higher enrollment of Republicans, chose Democratic incumbents to represent them in the state Senate and Assembly, matching the countywide results.

In state races, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt (D-144th District), had an easy victory over his Republican challenger, while Sen. Byron Brown, (D-60th District), fended off a slightly stronger challenge from his opponent.

Brown won 3,971 Grand Island votes on the Democratic line, or 45.9 percent of the vote total. He added on another 871 votes from the Independence, Conservative and Working Families lines, securing a total of 55.9 percent overall. His Republican challenger, Alfred T. Coppola, received 3,818 votes, or 44.1 percent of the Grand Island vote on the Republican line. There are 5,225 Republican voters enrolled on Grand Island, compared to 4,672 Democrats, according to the latest figures from the Erie County Board of Elections.

Thanks Voters

“I’m elated by the election results,” Brown said. “I’m very thankful to the voters of Grand Island for placing their trust and confidence in me” to represent them in the state Senate. Brown said he plans to continue his work on improving education. He noted he had been successful in securing more money for the Grand Island School District.

“We’ve worked with Supervisor (Peter) McMahon on economic issues and have been helpful in enabling the expansion of the Fuccillo car dealerships,” Brown said. He said he will continue to support the Golden Age Center and the Grand Island Fire Company, working to provide grants for seniors services and public safety. “Our seniors help to keep neighborhoods stable,” Brown said.

Islanders Re-elect Hoyt

Hoyt captured 56.5 percent of the votes cast on Grand Island, while David Penna won 43.5. Hoyt won 4,288 votes on the Democratic line, 388 on the Independence line and 296 on the Working Families line; Penna earned 3,383 votes on the Republican line and 441 on the Conservative line.

Grand Island comprises between 10 percent and 15 percent of Hoyt’s district, which is largely urban in character. Hoyt commented, “I have a great bastion of suburban New York in Grand Island. I always fight to provide resources from the state for the Grand Island School District, working with Peter McMahon, who I think is a terrific supervisor.”

He said fixing the dysfunctional state government is a big priority for his upcoming term because his constituents tell him they are tired of Albany gridlock. “After 12-1/2 years in office, I’m going back more committed and aggressive for reform,” Hoyt said.

McMahon Pleased

McMahon said he is looking forward to working with Brown, Hoyt and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who also won re-election on Tuesday. He also was pleased with the voter turnout on Grand Island.

“The turnout was exceptional,” he said. More than 10,000 voters showed up at the polls, making the turnout close to 80 percent. “Normally, we average about 7,000,” McMahon said.

“I am happy that Sen. (Chuck) Schumer has been re-elected by such a comfortable margin. He has been extremely helpful to the town with the Seneca Land claim.”

Of the incumbent state representatives, McMahon said, “Byron and Sam have both also been very helpful to Grand Island.” He credited Hoyt in helping secure about $1 million state aid over the past six years, in addition to taking a key role in the acquisition of 34 acres of shoreline property between Spicer Creek and Bicentennial Park.

Election Results

The unofficial results from the Erie County Board of Elections show the Bush-Cheney ticket garnered 4,968 votes on the Republican line and 389 on the Conservative line on Grand Island for a total of 5,357 votes, or 53.2 percent. The Kerry-Edwards slate received 4,313 votes on the Democratic line and 249 on the Working Families line, for a total of 4,562, or 44.3 percent of the Grand Island votes cast. Ralph Nader received 145 Grand Island votes on the Independence and Peace and Justice lines.

“Congratulations to the President,” McMahon said, as he learned from a message on his beeper that Bush was the winner and Kerry would be making a concession speech Wednesday afternoon.

“New York wasn’t one of the battleground states for the presidential race, so we didn’t see the barrage of commercials or stumping in communities in the state,” McMahon said.

Larry Adamczyk, Erie County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner, said that countywide, “The turnout was a little lower than I thought it would be. Overall, everything went smooth.” Adamczyk said the elections board established a hot line that fielded hundreds, if not thousands of calls.

Over 400,000 Voted

He said there were over 400,000 people who came out to vote, out of a county population of about 900,000. “I give a lot of credit to the inspectors. They did a tremendous job,” he said.

Four thousand elections inspectors worked throughout the county, from 5:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. Diane Dubiel was one of them. She worked as a greeter at Kaegebein Elementary School on Tuesday, directing people to their proper districts on her first night as an elections inspector.

“I’m very gratified at the turnout -- it’s encouraging,” Dubiel said, pointing out there was a pretty steady flow of voters all night. “People care and they’re becoming involved in the process, which is so important,” she said.

“I’ve had a few people express surprise that Nancy Naples and Brian Higgins are not on the ballot here,” Dubiel said, referring to the hotly contested race for the 27th Congressional District that received heavy TV coverage in the weeks leading up to the election. Democrat Higgins, in unofficial results, won with 53 percent of the vote, compared to Republican Naples’ 47 percent. However, Naples is challenging the results.

Grand Islanders chose Democrat Louise Slaughter, who beat Republican Michael Laba to win re-election in the 28th Congressional District. Grand Island also went with Schumer in the U.S. Senate race over a wide field of challengers that included Republican Howard Mills and Conservative Marilyn O’Grady.

Court Races

However, Grand Islanders did pick Republican and Independence party candidate Deborah Haendiges in the Family Court Judge race, over ultimate winner Marge Szczur, who ran on the Democratic, Conservative and Working Families lines. Haendiges picked up 4,235 votes on the Republican line and 418 votes on the Independence line, for a total of 55.3 percent of the Grand Island vote. Szczur won 46 percent of the Grand Island vote. Countywide, the results were reversed, with Szczur winning 55 percent of the vote, to Haendiges’ 45 percent.

State Supreme Court winners overall included Paula Feroleto, Joseph Glownia and John M. Curran. Grand Island vote totals were: 15 percent for Frank Caruso; 30.4 percent for Curran; 31 percent for Glownia; 21.8 for Feroleto; and 1.8 percent for James McLeod.

Kids Voting

The Kids Voting project recorded 340 students voting at Kaegebein as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the turnout was equally brisk at other Grand Island polling places. The project allowed students get extra credit in class for participating in Kids Voting, but they also see democracy in action.

Town Board member Richard Crawford, one of the volunteers, commented, “This is what the whole process is about. It teaches them the sense of responsibility of what it means to vote, and they see the outcomes of their decision. They may be swayed by parental influence, but that’s how we all learn.”

Barbara LaDuca, polling place captain for the Kaegebein Kids Voting project, remarked, “When you have kids voting, it gives adults incentive. The children pester them to come because they’re so excited.”

Many of the volunteers in this effort are retired teachers. LaDuca said there are also high school and college students who volunteer. “When kids come here and see a teen-ager, they think, ‘This is a cool thing to do.’ ”

Older students also cast ballots for or against reinstating the draft, waging the war in Iraq and establishing a Constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage.