AllAboutArmonk.com President Michelle Boyle discussed what's expected of the Town Clerk's office with Anne Curran. She has circulated petitions to run for North Castle's Town Clerk in the November 2010 election. "The Town Clerk is the administrative arm of the Town Board, to better serve the public," says Town Clerk Anne Curran.
AAA: Tell us about your career working in the Town Clerk's office.
AC: I joined the Town Clerk's office as Deputy Town Clerk under Ann Leber seven years ago. When Ann announced that she intended to retire, several applicants were considered for the job and the Board unanimously decided to appoint me. Click to read the entire interview.
Mark Your Ballot
The new Optical Scan Voting Machine
The New Voting Machine will be Easy if You Know How to Use It
New optical scanning machines will be in place for voting in the September 14, 2010 Primary. Rather then pull the arm to close the curtain, upon check in everyone will receive a printed paper ballot with an optional privacy sleeve. The next station will be a kiosk with several sections for privacy and count tops to fill in the ballot.
The ballot will have a square next to each candidate. Your choice is to be filled in completely (no checks or X's) by only using the provided pens, known as a Ballot Marking Device (BMD). Westchester County Board of Elections instructs "If you make a mistake, DO NOT try to erase the mark. Return the ballot to the Election Inspector and request a new ballot."
The voter feeds the ballot into the machine herself. A message will alert you if there is an error. An error could be: an ambiguous mark, an over-vote when you select more then the allowed number of candidates, a blank ballot with no detected choice, or a misread ballot from a fold, tear or incorrect insertion. Any of these errors will trigger an error message that will appear on the LCD display of the machine. After being scanned, the accepted ballot will drop into a locked boxed. A spoiled ballot will be locked in a pouch and the voter must start over.
As in the past, each of North Castle's 11 districts will have one voting machine and at the end of the night the tallies from each contest will be printed. North Castle's Town Clerk Anne Curran advises residents to visit the Town Clerk's office where a voting machine will be available for demonstration through the middle of the first week of August, Monday - Friday 8:30 - 4:00pm. No appointment is necessary.
AllAboutArmonk.com President Michelle Boyle discussed what's expected of the Town Clerk with Gina Sinon. She is circulating a petition to run for North Castle's Town Clerk in the upcoming November 2010 election.
"When there is an election" Sinon says, "you find people with a fresh perspective."
AAA: How and when did you know you wanted to run for Town Clerk?
GS: I started to think about it when Ann Leber retired in December. I began to research the position and gather information. At the same time, a number of people began to contact me and told me they thought I would be perfect for the position, given my skill set and work and volunteer experience. Click to read the entire interview.
Politics Not as Usual
August 6, 2010 The office of North Castle's Town Clerk will appear on the ballot for the November 2010 election. Anne Curran was appointed in December 2009 by the North Castle Town Board to serve one of the two remaining years of the four-year term left by retiring Town Clerk Ann Leber. The position of town clerk is now up for election for the remaining year of Ann Leber’s term.
Two candidates have filed petitions to appear on the ballot for the position of town clerk. Anne Curran is currently serving as North Castle Town Clerk, and has been endorsed by the North Castle Democratic, Conservative, and Independence parties. Gina Sinon, an attorney in private practice, has been endorsed by the North Castle Republican Party.
The deadline for submitting petitions was July 22nd. The North Castle Town Clerk filed petitions for three parties: Democratic, Conservative, and Independence. Sinon filed petitions for the above-mentioned three parties and the Republican Party. “Opportunity to ballot” petitions were due July 29th, and Sinon filed for these petitions for all party lines. If the “opportunity to ballot” petitions are accepted, Sinon can be a write-in candidate for the primary.
Both candidates have clearly stated that the office of town clerk is a non-political position. Unfortunately, this has become a politically-charged race; it is reminiscent of the 2005 election for Town Supervisor between Jack Lombardi and Reese Berman. The ballot process is conducted with the use of petitions. Each petition requires 5% of the registered voters in a particular party, in order to appear on the ballot. For example, there are approximately 115 Conservative voters in North Castle; thus, the Conservative Party petition must include six signatures. The remaining political parties require the following number of signatures for their respective petitions: approximately 15 signatures for the Independence Party, 142 signatures for both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. Candidates typically include more than the required number of signatures on their petitions, in the event that some of the signatures are challenged.
Democratic Chairman Linda Trummer-Napolitano filed general and specific objections against Gina Sinon's petitions. Trummer-Napolitano says, “Sinon, as an attorney, should be diligent and follow the letter-of-the-law, especially the criteria of the election law.” Objections to the petition involved claims that a substantial number of deficiencies were present, including a “statement of witness defective” and other clerical errors on Sinon's petitions.
Westchester County Commissioner of Board of Elections Carolee Sunderland wrote a letter dated July 27, 2010 to Linda Trummer-Napolitano and copied to Gina Sinon stating that Gina Sinon's Republican petition had 223 signatures. The Board of Elections sustained 98 objections for various reasons including the following: 20 voters not registered, ten voters “not enrolled in the Republican Party”, and 61 “statement of witness defective” voters. Accordingly, a balance of 125 valid signatures remained. Since 142 signatures are required, Sinon's Republican petition has been ruled invalid; as a result, Gina Sinon's name would not appear on the Republican Party primary ballot on September 14th, 2010. Sinon's Democratic petition was ruled invalid on form, and the court has not ruled yet on the other petitions.
Trummer-Napolitation's objections immediately provoked Loronda Murphy, Chairman of North Castle's Republican Party, to serve a legal order requiring Trummer-Napolitano to show the court just cause. A one-hour court hearing was held on Wednesday, August 4th, 2010 in White Plains, presided by Westchester County Judge John LaCava. On August 6, 2010, Judge LaCava ruled that Sinon’s Republican petitions are valid, which means that she will appear on the Republican ballot for town clerk.
Murphy commented that this type of case is typically not considered in the “process of objections” or “order to show cause”; in fact, the position of town clerk is considered non-political. She added, "I'm glad to see both candidates on the ballot to let the people decide.”
North Castle Democrats endorse Tom Roach as the 89th District Assemblyman
Democratic Candidates for the 89th District Assembly seat were interviewed on June 8, 2010 by The North Castle Democratic Committee. Mark Jaffee had announced his candidacy in April 2010 while Tom Roach announced his a bit later.
North Castle Democratic Committee Chair Linda Trummer-Napolitano writes, "We wanted an opportunity to meet both candidates and hear their credentials and positions before making any endorsement. Each candidate made a presentation to the committee and explained his qualifications and the reasons he thought he would be an effective Assembly member." They found both candidates passionate about the need for a new voice in Albany, "Both candidates recognized that the biggest issue is how to curtail spending and make cuts that will not simply pass down the tax burden to the county and local levels."
Tom Roach is a practicing attorney and the Council President of the White Plains Common Council. "The committee felt he had a better grasp of how the actions in Albany can impact local constituents. Roach also explained how he fought for union concessions to avoid layoffs. He recognizes that the current pension/retirement system is untenable and emphasized that there is a lot of fat in the numerous agencies and commissions in Albany and that consolidation and elimination of redundancy is one way to cut expenses, without shifting costs to municipalities."
Trummer-Napolitano concluded, "In the end, the committee, although impressed with both candidates, felt that Mr. Roach had the edge in qualifications and temperament. In addition, he is well liked in White Plains, which has the largest constituency in the 89th Assembly district."
The committee gave full consideration to both candidates and had a three-hour frank and open discussion about the candidates before voting.
