88°
To the editor,
An expensive September primary election was held because Terry Gipson, the Democratic, Working Families and Women’s Equality parties’ nominee for New York State Senate District 41 wanted to be on the Green Party line in November.New York State election law does not allow the consolidation of polling places beyond town boundaries so towns across Dutchess County went through the process of setting up polling places.
Dutchess County Election Commissioner Erik Haight estimates this primary cost Dutchess County taxpayers approximately $100,000.
The Green Party doesn’t allow a nonparty member to circulate petitions for candidate nominations so a potential candidate has two options. Either convince a Green Party member to circulate a nominating petition or circulate an “Opportunity to Ballot” petition. By choosing the latter option, Gipson forced a primary election.
In Dutchess County, there were 390 registered Green Party voters at the time of the primary. In North East/Millerton, none of the five Green Party voters showed up to vote. In all of Dutchess County, 56 Green Party members turned out to vote, 40 of them wrote in Terry Gipson’s name.
What a waste of taxpayer money.
Terry Gipson had every right as a citizen to run for office. However, forcing this primary so his name could appear on the Green Party line shows me a fiscally irresponsible candidate.
Is having Terry Gipson’s name appear a fourth time on the November ballot worth $100,000 to Dutchess County taxpayers? I don’t think so.
Edie Greenwood
North East
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