November 5 is coming up soon, but if you're still on the fence about who you'll be voting for, it's not too late to do a little pre-election research. On Saturday, October 26, voters in the Ulster County towns of Olive and Shandaken will have a chance to check out the folks on the ballot, at a pair of Meet The Candidate events.
Olive's event will be held at 9:30am at the Olive Meeting Hall on Bostock Road in Shokan. In Shandaken, the event starts at 1pm at the Shandaken Town Hall on Route 28 in Allaben. Both events are sponsored by the Woodstock Times and moderated by volunteers from the League of Women Voters.
It's a hot election year for Olive, where supervisor Berndt Leifeld is stepping down after almost 30 years in the seat. Longtime clerk Sylvia Rozzelle is running for supervisor on the Democratic ticket. Also running on the Democratic ticket are town council candidates Jim Sofranko and Drew Boggess, and town clerk candidate Dawn Giuditta, the town's current court clerk. Highway superindentent James Fugel and town justice Tim Cox, both Democrats, are running for reelection; Cox is unopposed.
Under Leifeld's tenure, Democrats have long held sway in Olive politics; this year, emboldened town Republicans are seeking to tip the scales in their direction. Board member Peter Freidel is running for supervisor on the Republican ticket. Also running on the Republican line: Town council candidates Craig Glazier and Scott Kelder, highway superintendent candidate Herb Dixon, and town clerk candidate Sharon Wood.
A few Olive candidates who lost bids for Democratic nominations are running on third-party lines. Leifeld's secretary, Susan Horner, is running for town clerk on the Working Families line. Also running on the Working Families line is town council candidate Linda Burkhardt. Town council member Bruce LaMonda is running for supervisor on the Working Families and Independence lines.
With supervisor Rob Stanley, highway supervisor Eric Hofmeister, and town justices Michael Miranda and Thomas Crucet running unopposed, Shandaken's upcoming election is a little less momentous. But the race for town council should be a feisty one: Democrats Faye Storms and Tim Malloy, a former councilman, will face off against Republicans Frank Stapleton and Jack Jordan, an incumbent.
Candidates who can't make the events have been invited to submit written statements.
Ulster County residents can look up their polling places and see sample ballots on the website of the Ulster County Board of Elections.
Correction, 9:40pm: Post updated to include Bruce LaMonda's run for Olive supervisor; apologies for the omission.
