There has been several changes to this year’s election calendar because of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, outbreak.

Some of the changes include the indefinite suspension of non-major party candidate petitions being submitted to the Chautauqua Board of Elections and the suspension of two village elections that were scheduled to be held last month in Sinclairville and Westfield, said Norm Green, Chautauqua County Democratic election commissioner.

Green said there has been no official date announced for the suspended village elections, but most likely the rescheduled date will be June 16, depending on the state of the pandemic at that time. He also said county school board elections have been postponed indefinitely, which will be held no earlier than June 1. He added there is also no scheduled date for when town caucuses will be held, which originally had to be completed before July.

Additional changes include the postponement of the state’s Presidential Primary, which has been rescheduled to June 23.

Green said Brian Abram, Chautauqua County Republican election commissioner, and himself encourage voters to apply for absentee ballots for the primary election to minimize their COVID-19 exposure. The application can be found at votechautauqua.com.

Green said county residents are eligible to use an absentee ballot because the law states people who are have an illness are legally able to vote using the form.

“We all are potential carriers (of the coronavirus) so we are accepting all absentee ballot applications under the provision of the law (dealing with illness) and strongly encourage voters to take advantage of this. We don’t want them at the poll sites for health reasons.”

Another potential change could be the consolidation of election polls in the county. Green said under the law the county Board of Elections is required to have at least one poll site in all 27 towns and in the two cities. During a normal election year, Green said there is a total of 50 poll sites in the county even though only 29 are required by law. For example, he said the town of Ellicott has four poll sites, but the county election commissioners could eliminate all, but one of those sites. He added that example could take place in any town and in the cities where there are multiple polling locations.

“We could do that, but the position Brian (Abram) and I are taking is everything is changing day by day,” Green said. “Everything is changing every day so we aren’t putting anything into effect until we have to.”

Changes already occurring to the election calendar includes the submission of petitions for major party candidates. The original due dates were March 30-April 2. However, because of the pandemic, the petition submission dates were moved to March 19-20. Also, the number of signatures needed on a petition decreased to 30% of what is normally needed, Green said.

“We notified the political parties that we had this new schedule and we also told them they didn’t need as many signatures as before,” Green said. “Everybody got their petitions (in on time).”

Green said county Board of Elections officials were going to candidates and party officials to collect the petitions instead of them visiting the Board of Elections office in Mayville.

“We did everything we could so candidates didn’t have to personally come into the Board of Elections, so we took possession of (the petitions) and brought them into the office so they could be filed,” he said. “That’s something we don’t normally do, but we did what we could to avoid a face-to-face meeting.”

NOVEMBER ELECTION RACES

Election petition submissions included one from incumbent Andy Goodell, R-Jamestown, for the 150th Assembly District. Goodell has been endorsed by the Republican, conservative and Independence parties. Christina Cardinale of Jamestown will be running against Goodell as an endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party.

County Executive PJ Wendel, R-Lakewood, has been endorsed by the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties for the special election for county executive following the resignation of George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, who was elected to the 57th State Senate District during a special election last year. Wendel’s opponent will be Richard Morrisroe of Dunkirk, who has been endorsed by the Democratic and Working Families parties.

The election for county district attorney will be a rematch between Patrick Swanson, who has been endorsed by the Democratic, Independence and Working Families parties, and Jason Schmidt, who has been endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parities.

There will be two special elections in the Chautauqua County Legislature. In District 1, Kevin Muldowney, who is endorsed by the Republican Party, will be running against Phillips Collier, who has been endorsed by the Democratic and Working families parties.

In District 10, Ken Lawton, who was appointed to the legislature following the resignation of Wendel when he became county executive, has been endorsed by the Republican and Conservative parties. Lawton will be running against Zachary Agett, who has been endorsed by the Democratic Party.