Barre had highest turnout of 10 towns in Orleans County

Voters in the Town of Barre had the highest turnout among the 10 Orleans County towns in the recent election.

Barre, at 51.2 percent turnout, topped 50 percent, which is unusual in a local election. Countywide, the turnout was 34.8 percent, with 8,048 voters going to the polls out of 23,183 registered voters. That rate was less than the 38.2 percent turnout for local elections in both 2015 and 2017.

In Barre, 645 of the 1,260 registered voters cast a ballot on election day, and also, for the first time, during nine days of early voting. Countywide there were 374 people who voted during the nine days of early voted. That accounted for 1.6 percent of the registered voters in the county.

Bare had seven candidates seeking three spots for the Town Board. That was the most intense election day battle among the 10 towns.

Most of the positions on the ballot throughout the county did not have opposition. At four towns – Albion, Carlton, Kendall and Yates – there weren’t any contested races.

That is reflected in the turnout there. Albion had the lowest voting rate at 30.0 percent.

Ridgeway, which had three candidates for town supervisor, had the second lowest turnout at 31.1 percent.

Here is a breakdown of turnout at the 10 towns.

Source: Orleans County Board of Elections; Orleans Hub calculations.

The position of sheriff was likely the most profile race in the county, but only one candidate, Chris Bourke, was on the ballot. He received 78.4 percent of the vote and withstood a write-in campaign. Brett Sobieraski lost a close Republican Primary to Bourke on June 25. Many of his supporters pushed him as a write-in candidate. There were 1,570 write-in votes. Bourke, the current undersheriff, received 5,693 votes.

Of the seven county legislator seats, six were unopposed. Don Allport of Gaines was challenged by Chase Tkach, a Libertarian Party candidate. Allport received 87.8 percent of the vote.

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