Long Island vote is in for Election 2023; Polls closed

Long Island voters cast ballots Tuesday for a bevy of candidates, including a new Suffolk County executive and contenders for every seat on the Suffolk and Nassau County Legislatures. 

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, is term-limited and will be leaving office after 12 years in office. The job carries a four-year term, and under the proposed county budget for 2024 the recommended annual salary is $241,409.

Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine, a Republican from Center Moriches, faced Dave Calone, a Democrat from Setauket who is CEO of an investment firm and a former federal and state prosecutor.

In all, there were 103 candidates on the ballot in Nassau and 162 in Suffolk, including county, town and judicial races.

Turnout was considered low Tuesday. Voters said they were drawn to the polls on a variety of issues, some global, some local.

Mary Mitchell said proper spending and community safety were her main issues of concern when voting Tuesday afternoon at Jackson Main School in Hempstead. 

“The streets, the neighborhood — we need to focus on repairing that,” Mitchell said, noting that she wants to improve the safety of the area for her grandchildren. 

Terry Aydelott, of Freeport, expressed optimism that changes to address disparities on Long Island would begin to take hold. 

“Some things have to change, we’ve been saying that for decades,” said Aydelott, a registered Democrat who acknowledged that she sometimes votes for Republican candidates. “You got to have hope because without hope, we're all doomed." 

Kim East, of Freeport, said the aesthetics of her neighborhood were a motivating factor to get her to vote this year.

“They could throw some trees up there on Grand Avenue … just to make it look pretty,” said East, who also called for more street lamps to brighten East Freeport, where she lives. 

In Garden City, Alice Zieher, 79, said she wanted to express concern about democracy and “the state of the nation.”

“The Republicans have kind of edged their way through our county, and that's very important to me — to get the local sentiment up" for Democrats, Zieher said outside the Locust School.

At the Stewart School in Garden City, Delora Cardone, a Democrat, said she made it a point to show up to vote in the largely Republican area.

“Locally, the casino is a big issue," Cardone said. "A lot of Republicans I know are concerned about voting for Republicans" because of the proposal.

Marie Murphy echoed similar concerns over the casino and said it was a primary motivating factor in her vote on Tuesday.

"I firmly oppose having the casino in the residential community of Nassau County," Murphy said. "It's not an appropriate location."

She felt plans for the Las Vegas Sands' proposed $4 billion casino resort at the Nassau Coliseum was rushed and did not receive adequate input from residents.

"I'm going to try to get somebody on that committee that will voice an opinion, so that's why I'm here," said Murphy, who added that she remained hopeful that a better proposal would prevail.

Voting before 8 a.m. Tuesday at Babylon Town Hall was Barbara Wentz, 63, of Lindenhurst.

“I always vote,” she said. “It’s the way I was raised. I live in America; use it or lose it.”

As they left the polls, Kathy and Daniel Graham of Lindenhurst said that they didn’t recognize any names on their ballots.

"I never heard of anybody, I don't know anybody. We just voted the way we normally vote," which is along party lines, Kathy Graham said.

Heidi Jochen, 54, of Port Jefferson Station said as she left after voting at John F. Kennedy Middle School that she hopes candidates will address the issues “plaguing our county,” especially when it comes to debt and environmental concerns.

“We need sewers here in Suffolk and Brookhaven Town, and we don’t [have them], and we are so far behind everywhere else,” she said.

In Glen Cove, where party control has seesawed for more than a decade, a trickle of voters cast ballots at midday at the Robert M. Finley Middle School. While Democrats have an advantage in party registration, some voters said they crossed lines in voting.

“I did a little bit of both,” Maria Cucinella, 48, a hospital administrator, said after voting for Democratic and Republican candidates. “It’s the personalities” that matter, she said.

“When you’re from Glen Cove you kind of just pay attention to what they do for the public,” Cucinella said. “They have to keep their promises.”

Shana Spanier, 58, a sales manager, said her main concerns were on the national level, though locally a candidate's personal touch mattered more than party affiliation.

“I mostly voted party lines, but if I knew them and I liked them that’s when I crossed over,” Spanier said. 

Later in the Nassau city, Nicole Wolert, 24, of Glen Cove, said this year marked the first time she voted in person.

“I feel like it’s important to have a say in the future of really everything,” Wolert said outside St. Paul's Episcopal Church. “The state of the country is a little up and down, so I just wanted to have my say in it.”

In Long Beach on Tuesday morning, a steady stream of voters went in and out of East Elementary School on Neptune Boulevard. They said they were turning out for a range of issues including offshore wind farms and concern over antisemitism.

“Our big thing is the wind turbines, to keep them out of Long Beach,” said Darrin Geraffo, 58, a retired printing salesperson. “We’re voting for the people that are against it,” said Geraffo, who called wind farms an “eyesore.” 

Ariel Mizrahi, 35, a schoolteacher, said she voted for “a better tomorrow, better, better safety, better community” and said antisemitism was a concern. “I did it [voted] based on the person, based on their values not on their party,” Mizrahi said.

Veronica Rojas-Kretzer, a 44-year old office manager who described herself as Ecuadorian, said she wanted to ensure that voices of different ethnicities were heard.

“Minorities are not represented as well” in Long Beach,” said Rojas-Kretzer. “Diversity is my main issue.”

She added: “People don’t take small elections seriously enough, but these are the ones that actually matter for where you live.” 

There are 1,058,642 registered voters in Nassau County and 1,106,016 registered voters in Suffolk County, according to the New York State Board of Elections

By 5 p.m. Tuesday, the Suffolk County Board of Elections reported 129,610 people had cast ballots in Election Day voting.

Of that total, there were 41,029 Democrats and 55,036 Republicans who cast Election Day ballots. Another 33,545 people from unaffiliated and other parties also voted Tuesday.

The combined early voting and Election Day balloting totaled 167,284 people, as of 5 p.m., with voting by 68,131 Republicans and 57,305 Democrats, according to the Suffolk Board of Elections.

In 2022, a Congressional election year, in Suffolk County, a total of 356,152 voters cast ballots on election day as of 6 p.m. That included 104,626 Democrats, 144,927 Republicans, and 96,497 voters unaffiliated with a political party.

In Nassau, as of 4 p.m. there were 34,765 Republican voters who turned out, compared with 27,843 Democratic voters, according to Democratic Elections Commissioner James Scheuerman. A total of 13,477 voters unaffiliated with a political party also voted on Tuesday.

Nearly 85,000 voters across Long Island voted early, from Oct. 28 through Nov. 5, according to data from the Nassau and Suffolk County election boards.

In Suffolk, 16,276 registered Democrats cast ballots early, compared with 13,093 Republicans. Another 7,372 voters unaffiliated with a political party voted early, along with 933 voters registered with other political parties.

In Nassau, 19,127 registered Democrats voted early, compared with 18,915 Republicans. Another 7,674 independent voters cast ballots, as did 1,572 voters registered with various other parties.

In both the Nassau and Suffolk County Legislatures, Republicans were one seat shy of winning supermajorities. In Nassau, Republicans have a 12-7 edge over Democrats. In Suffolk, Republicans outnumber Democrats by 11-6, with one seat vacant.

Several town supervisor races were expected to be competitive.

North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena, a Democrat running on the Republican line, faced Jon Kaiman, a Democrat who served as supervisor from 2004 until 2013.

At least six Suffolk towns will elect a new supervisor because the incumbents are not running for reelection.

In Brookhaven, Republican councilman and deputy supervisor Daniel Panico faced Democrat Lillian Clayman, a labor history teacher, in the race to replace Romaine, who has been supervisor since 2012.

In Riverhead, Democrat Angela DeVito, a former school board member, faced Republican town board member Timothy Hubbard. Incumbent Yvette Aguiar, a Republican, is not running for reelection.

In Southold, Republican Scott Russell is retiring after 18 years in office. Suffolk Legis. Al Krupski Jr., a Cutchogue Democrat, and Republican Donald Grim were trying to replace him.

In East Hampton, Democratic councilwoman and deputy supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez faced Republican Gretta Leon. Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, a Democrat, is retiring after six years in office.

In Southampton, Republican councilwoman Cynthia McNamara and Democrat Maria Moore, the mayor of Westhampton Village, were running to replace retiring Supervisor Jay Schneiderman, a Democrat who is term-limited.

And in Shelter Island, Democrat Arnott Gooding and Republican Councilwoman Amber Brach-Williams were running to replace Democratic Supervisor Gerard Siller, who served two terms. Gooding defeated Siller in a Democratic primary in June by a margin of 261 to 128.

The ballot also included town board elections in Nassau and Suffolk, and city council seats in Long Beach and in Glen Cove, where there was also a mayor's race. Other races were for tax receiver, town clerk, town assessor and highway superintendent.

Voters can confirm their polling site locations through the state Board of Elections voterlookup.elections.ny.gov or by calling the county boards of election. Suffolk voters should call 631-852-4500. Nassau voters should call 516-571-2411.