Medina topped Albion in voter turnout
Mayoral, trustee races are not huge drivers to get people to the polls
Photos by Tom Rivers: A sign in the parking of the Senior Center on West Avenue highlights the site as Medina’s polling place for Wednesday’s village elections. Nearly 900 people voted over nine hours.
ALBION/MEDINA – Albion and Medina both held their village elections on Wednesday and the they both had contested races for mayor and trustees.
In terms of turnout, Medina doubled the percentage of voters who cast ballots.
Medina had 894 people vote out of 3,655 eligible voters for a turnout of 24.5 percent.
In Albion, 411 people voted out of 3,313 eligible for a turnout of 12.4 percent.
Local elections for town and county positions also tend to have lower turn-outs in off election years in November, when there isn’t a gubernatorial or presidential race.
This year at the village level, the election was held on a Wednesday and not the usual third Tuesday due to St. Patrick’s Day.
The election in Medina featured well-known candidates for mayor – Debbie Padoleski (retired village clerk/treasurer) and incumbent Marguerite Sherman (retired Median teacher) – as well as long-established residents for trustee in Jeff Wagner (former Apple Grove owner), Mark Prawel (retired police officer and auto repair shop owner), Dean Bellack (long-time community volunteer) and Courtney Henderson (who had the endorsement of the firefighters’ union).
The turnout for this election was more than two years ago in another contested race for mayor and village trustees. And that election, 488 people voted with Sherman defeating Mike Maak for mayor, 330 to 158.
Medina’s biggest local turnout remains a referendum on dissolution. That vote on Jan. 20, 2015 brought out nearly 1,500 people. The proposal to discontinue Medina’s government and services was rejected, 949 to 527.
The Village Office on East Bank Street in Albion had just over 400 people stop by on Wednesday to cast votes for mayor and village trustee candidates.
Albion elected Tim McMurray mayor on Wednesday, 209-202, over Joyce Riley. Three candidates ran for two trustee positions with Jami Allport, 275 votes, and Kevin Sheehan, 215, edging Issac Robinson who had 202.
The turnout was down from four years ago, the last village election with a race for mayor.
On March 15, 2022, the village had 710 voters in a three-way race for mayor. Angel Javier Jr. was elected with 378 votes to 195 for Vickie Elsenheimer and 137 for Kevin Graham.
Both Albion and Medina have discussed moving the village election to the third Tuesday in June when there would be better weather, making it easier to campaign and get petitions signed. There would also be more people in the community with many currently spending the winters in warmer weather. (Both villages do allow absentee ballots for residents.)
Medina decided not to put the issue out as a public referendum this election. Jess Marciano, the deputy mayor, sees many benefits of moving it back three months, including giving new board members more time to get acclimated to the position instead of having to complete the village’s budget their first month in office.
Albion candidates discussed the issue during a forum on March 5 with four out of the five supporting a June election due to the cold weather in January, February and March when they try to get petitions signed and build supporter their campaigns. Jami Allport didn’t say one way or the other. She is open to what the community wants to do with a change in the election.
In Orleans County, Holley moved its village election from March to June about a decade ago.
