It may have been an “off year” politically – with no big-ticket races for mayor, governor or president – but Primary Day 2023 gave roughly a quarter of eligible county voters plenty to get excited about.
In Buffalo, media superstars India Walton and Zeneta Everhart squared off in a marquee race for Common Council in the Masten District, and in the suburbs, there was a hotly contested Republican-Conservative contest for County Legislature, with caustic zingers flying about.
Still, it was hard to get voters off their couches and into the voting booth, and the percentage that voted in that Masten District race was about the same as it was in two previous local primary election cycles, according to a Buffalo News analysis of Erie County Board of Elections data.
“Primaries are just a different kind of a race,” Erie County Democratic Committee Chairman Jeremy J. Zellner said.
Erie County Republican Chairman Michael A. Kracker says that as a party leader, he encourages people to get out to the polls during early voting or on Election Day.
“But there’s nothing that says we have to force voters,” he said. “It’s up to them if they choose to get involved.”
The Masten District race for Buffalo Common Council is a prime example.
Roughly 2,300 people cast their ballots for Walton and Everhart on Tuesday, Board of Elections voting records show. That’s 16.4% of all registered Democrats in Masten’s Common Council district.
Despite being a high-profile race that garnered lots of publicity, slightly fewer people voted in that primary race than did in 2019 and 2015, when incumbent Ulysees O. Wingo Sr. was taking on a few lesser-known opponents.
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