Today is the special election for the 23rd Congressional District for voters to elect who will take the place of former Rep. Tom Reed, who resigned from office in May.

Joseph Sempolinski is running against Max H. Della Pia. Sempolinski has the backing of the Republican and Conservative parties, while Della Pia is the endorsed candidate of the Democratic and Working Families parties.

All registered voters, regardless of party affiliation, may participate.

Today is also the day of the Republican Congressional primary. Carl Paladino and Nick Langworthy are both running for the newly drawn 23rd District. Only registered Republicans are permitted to vote in the contest. The winner will face off against Della Pia in November. Della Pia is not facing a Democratic primary and is also the endorsed candidate for the Working Families Party.

Carl Paladino

On Monday, the Chautauqua County Board of Elections released turnout in early voting for the special election and the primary, showing 1,670 people participated. Of that total, 872 were registered Democrats and 586 were Republicans. Other party totals include 15 Conservative, eight Working Families, 18 Independence, three Green, one Libertarian and four from other parties. There were also 163 early voters who are not registered with a party.

Democratic Election Commissioner Luz Torres credits Della Pia’s campaign for the higher turnout. “People are excited about him so they’re getting out there and voting,” she said.

Republican Election Commissioner Brian Abram believes Democrats have embraced early voting more. “Republican have over the last three, going on four years now, been more of a group that migrates to Election Day than they do early voting and Democrats as a group kind of migrated voting using that style more than the Republicans,” he said.

For the Republican Congressional primary, 585 Republican voters have cast their vote during early voting between Paladino and Langworthy.

In June, both the Democratic and Republican parties held primaries for governor. In those races, 900 people participated in early voting. Abram said about 13 % of eligible voters participated.

Joseph Sempolinski

He thinks this August turnout will be higher than 13% but not by much. “The negatives are that August is a tough month. People aren’t thinking about voting. But I do believe the influence of the candidates pushing very hard to get people to remember and to come on out … will spike us,” he said.

Another advantage this time is that everyone can vote in the special election, unlike the June primary, which was for registered Democrats and Republicans only. “It is all voters which I think will help push us past 13%,” he said.

In Chautauqua County, polls will be open today from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Registered Republicans will be given a second ballot for their primary.

Nick Langworthy