MAYVILLE – For the 2017 General Election being a non-federal election year, voter turnout was still higher than usual for Chautauqua County.
According to numbers from the Chautauqua County Board of Elections, more than 26,000 of the county’s 75,739 registered voters voted on Tuesday. Combined with absentee ballots and affidavits, the overall voter turnout was at about 38 percent.
Election Commissioner Norm Green says it was one of the highest turn percentages in recent non-federal elections for a few reasons.
“The state-wide proposition for the constitutional convention is something that was big. I think the two county-wide races were certainly mining votes in areas they hadn’t been mined before. And then we had lots of good local races,” Green said.
While voter turnout was high across the county, it was lower in the city of Jamestown, compared to the countywide average. According to the Post-Journal, just 27 percent of registered voters in the city headed out to the polls. That’s despite there being a hotly contested city council at large race, along with two contested city council ward races and two contested county legislature races. In addition, there was the county-wide election of the County Executive and County Clerk.
Green told the Post-Journal that a possible reason why north county voters turned out more was because three out of four major candidates reside in the area, but no countywide candidates came out of Jamestown.
The Board of Elections has declared four elections in Chautauqua County too close to call following the ballot count on Election Night. They are the Jamestown City Council At Large race, the Ellington Town Council, the Hanover Town Justice, and Sherman Village Trustee races.
All absentee ballots will be opened and counted on Monday, Nov. 20.
Results from Election Night for all races in Chautauqua County can be found online at VoteChautauqua.com.
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