OSWEGO COUNTY, NY – Oswego County voters flocked to the polls Tuesday to cast their votes in the 2008 Presidential election. Longtime inspectors said the turnout was stellar.
“We have been very busy today,†said Jean Huard, who has been an inspector in Fulton for approximately 10 years. “I have never seen it like this.â€ÂÂ
Huard said that inspectors at the Fulton War Memorial saw voters waiting at the doors Tuesday when polls opened at 6 a.m.
“We haven’t had a lull at all,†agreed inspector Roberta Kenyon. “It quieted down for maybe three minutes at a time, but that was it.â€ÂÂ
Huard said she saw a high volume of first-time voters.
“There are a lot of new voters,†she said. “There are a lot of young voters and a lot of older people who have never voted before coming in today.â€ÂÂ
Another longtime inspector, who preferred to not give his name, said that was the case at his poll site in Hastings, as well.
“If every other site has been as busy as us, all of the polling they’ve done won’t make a difference,†he said. “There are so many new people voting that there would be no way to anticipate how they would vote.â€ÂÂ
Inspectors agreed that the steady stream of voters made the day go faster. Setting up from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Oswego County, the time flew because of the constant flow of voters.
In Oswego County, the Presidential election results showed a total of 45,833 votes cast for the seven candidates. At the top of the list, Barack Obama/Joe Biden (D,W) took 23,078 in unofficial totals. John McCain/Sarah Palin (R,I,C) won 21,909 votes in the county.
Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez (OI) saw a some support in the county with 402 votes, followed by: Bob Barr/Wayne A. Root (OI) with 279; Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente (G) with 100; Roger Calero/Alyson Kennedy (OI) with 42; and Gloria La Riva/Eugene Puryear (SL) with 23 votes.
Unofficial Oswego County voter totals also showed:
For 5th District State Supreme Court Justice, local voters selected Republican Tom Cerio over Democrat David Murad, 18,294 to 15,646. Cerio was also victorious in Lewis County, while Murad was the voter choice in Onondaga, Jefferson Oneida and Herkimer counties. Murad took the race in unofficial totals.
Longtime Republican Congressman John McHugh beat Democratic challenger Michael Oot, 25,742 to 11,988
Oswego County voters selected Republican David Renzi over incumbent Darrel Aubertine, 21,362 to 19,487 in the heated race for the 48th District seat on the state Senate. Aubertine beat Renzi overall across the three-county district.
Incumbent Oswego County Court Judge Walter Hafner Jr., a Republican who ran on the GOP, Democrat, Conservative and Working Families party lines, brought in approximately six times the number of votes as challenger Robert Genant, who ran on the Independence line. Hafner won 31,731 votes to Genant’s 4,815. Though Genant received the party’s support early on, Hafner won the endorsement in the September Primary.
Assembly races in Oswego County showed:
- Republican David Townsend over Conservative Daniel LeClair, 6,740 to 1,346 in the bid for the 115th Assembly District
- Dede Scozzafava (R,I,W) with 1,274 Oswego County votes in her uncontested bid for reelection to the 122nd Assembly District
- Republican Will Barclay easily won his bid for reelection to the 124th Assembly District over Democratic challenger Jerome Burns, 13,750 to 5,941.
- Republican Robert Oaks with 2,274 votes in his uncontested bid for reelection to the 128th Assembly District.
Daniel Hoefer (D,W) beat incumbent legislator Mary Flett (R,C) and Melvin Holliday (OI) for a one-year term in the 17th District of the Oswego County Legislature. Flett was appointed to the chair at the beginning of this year to fill the vacancy created with the passing of her brother, former Democratic legislator Len Ponzi. In the unofficial totals, Hoefer won 628 votes to Flett’s 595 and Holliday’s 116.
In the city of Fulton, former Mayor Daryl Hayden (D) beat incumbent Dana Smith (R) in his bid for an unexpired term to the Fourth Ward Alderman position on the Fulton Common Council. Smith was appointed earlier this year to fill the vacancy created with the resignation of former alderman Kenneth Myers. Hayden took 318 votes at the polls Tuesday to Smith’s 230 votes.
Frank Tomaino took nearly twice the number of votes as Rowlan Hrywnak in his bid for an unexpired one-year term on the Constantia Town Board. Tomaino received 1,042 votes to Hrywnak’s 553 votes.
In uncontested races:
- Republican Kim Seager took 22,116 votes in her bid for Oswego County Family Court Judge. Vote totals generated through a write-in campaign hosted by current Judge David Roman was not reported on the county Web site.
- Republican Surrogate Court Judge John J. Elliot received 21,267 votes in his bid for reelection.
- Fulton City Court Judge Spencer Ludington received 2,436 votes in his bid for reelection to the bench.
- Republican William Rombough received 630 votes in his bid for an unexpired one-year term on the New Haven Town Board.
- Republican Douglas Houghton received 562 votes in his bid for an unexpired three-year term as the Parish town assessor.
- Republican Cheryl Yerdon took 861 votes to serve an unexpired one-year term on the Sandy Creek Town Board.
- Republican Carlton Rusaw, who also ran on the Conservative line, received 1,296 votes in his bid for a one-year unexpired term on the Volney Town Board.
- Republican Terrance Smith received 1,268 votes for an unexpired one-year term on the Scriba Town Board.
