Absentee ballots key to charter vote
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » A proposal to change Saratoga Springs’ form of government was too close to call Tuesday night.
While the proposal to change the government to a council-manager form led by a few dozen votes, there are 560 absentee ballots left to count. According to unofficial results from the Saratoga County Board of Elections, there were 4,202 votes in favor of the plan, with 4,154 votes against.
Members of the Charter Review Commission met with the Republican and Democratic Commissioner of Elections, Roger J. Schiera and William Fruci, at the Saratoga County Board of Elections Wednesday to understand the timeline and process for handling of the absentee ballots.
There were 711 absentee ballots mailed out. As of Wednesday, 519 had been received. All ballots have to be postmarked by Nov. 6. All ballots
have to be received by Nov. 14, but Military ballots can be received up until Nov. 20.
Beginning Nov. 14 at 10 a.m. the Saratoga County Board of Elections will begin counting the absentee ballots. The process is open to the public.
“As a citizen group, we do not have previous experience in these matters. Commissioners Schiera and Fruci were very helpful in explaining the timeline and process for how absentee ballots are handled,” said Bob Turner, chair of the Charter Review Commission. “The Charter Review Commission would like to thank the entire community for their passionate and vigorous debate over the future of Saratoga Springs we all love. We are once again reminded that every vote counts.”
Turner said Tuesday night felt like the 2000 presidential vote in Florida all over again.
“It was a roller coaster ride all night as the numbers went back and forth,” said Turner. “It will come down to the absentees and what happens with the write-in ballots.”
The current charter, under the commission form of government, has an elected mayor and four elected commissioners who serve as members of the city council and supervisors of specific departments.
The proposed charter calls for a council-manager form, which includes a seven-member council that solely acts in a legislative capacity, and an appointed city manager who would run the day-to-day operations of city hall. If it holds up after absentee ballots are counted, it will go into effect January 2020.
The proposed charter been a much-debated topic within the community. There’s been discussion at countless City Council meetings, forums and debates about what form of government works best for Saratoga Springs.
Richards Sellers, leader of the Success group that opposed charter reform, said he wasn’t surprised at how close the vote is. “No, not at all,” he said. Sellers declined to predict the outcome once absentee ballots are counted.
“We simply have to wait to find out,” he said. “There’s no way to predict.”
The 15-member Charter Review Commission began its work in June 2016 with an opportunity to tweak the current charter, propose a new one or leave the current charter as is.
The proposed charter — and the issues surrounding it — ended up generating plenty of discussion well before the vote took place Tuesday.
During City Council meetings, on Facebook posts, debates and through editorials, some commissioners and commission members began to exchange contentious remarks.
Some of the commissioners against the proposal took issue with the committee’s fiscal analysis of the proposed charter. While the analysis showed significant savings for the city by adopting the proposed charter, the commissioners said the analysis was flawed and the proposal could actually cost city taxpayers more money.
When the majority of the City Council voted against using city funds to pay for the cost of distributing information about the proposed charter to residents — arguing the fiscal analysis was flawed and advocacy, not educational — a couple of commission members used their own funds to mail the materials. One commissioner said that violated a state law, and notified the state Board of Elections.
Recently, three city commissioners said they were concerned funds from a special interest group were given to It’s Time Saratoga — a group that is urging people to approve the proposed charter — in an effort to influence the charter referendum.
However, the organizations involved defended the donations, and noted a group campaigning against the charter proposal was receiving funding from different groups.