Midterm Election

Election is coming up and I am curious about who is running and what are the issues they care about. First I will look up my polling place, which is the Niskayuna Town Hall, and they are open from 6AM to 9PM on Tuesday, November 2. I am in county district 3, assembly district 110, election district 17, senate district 44, and congressional district 21. So many district numbers. What do they mean? I go to http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/ and look up current government officials that represent me:

Governer: David Paterson

Lt. Governer: Richard Ravitch

US Senators: Kirsten Gillibrand & Charles Schumer

US Congressional District 21 representative: Paul Tonko

Population: 654,361

NYS Senate District 44 Senator: Hugh T. Farley

Population: 302,248

NYS Assembly District 110 Assemblymember: James Tedisco

Population: 131,594

And I go to the county web page to look up the current elected officials. In county district 3, we have:

James Buhrmaster, Martin Finn, Robert Farley, Brian Gordon, Susan Savage.

Two of these seats are up for election.

In our town I believe the Town Supervisor and one of the two Town Justice is up for election.

Candidates for NYS governor:

Andrew Cuomo (D/IP) & Bob Duffy

Carl Paladino (R/C/Taxpayers) & Greg Edwards & Tom Ognibene

Kristin Davis (Anti-Prohibition) & Linda Espejo

Charles Barron (Freedom) & Eva Doyle

Howie Hawkins (Green) & Gloria Mattera

Warren Redlich (Libertarian) & Alden Link

Jimmy McMillan (Rent is Too Damn High)

Dan Fein (Socialist Workers)

Kenneth Schaeffer (WF) & Elon Harpaz

Among these candidates, 4 have at least one attorney, and the rest are mostly some kind of activist. The political spectrum is very colorful, with many different groups represented.

For State Comptroller, we currently have Tom DiNapoli (D), and the other candidates:

Harry Wilson (R) Hedge Fund Manager

Julia Willebrand (Green) Educator, Progressive Activist

John Gaetani (Libertarian) Accountant

Rus Thompson (Taxpayers) Tea Party Activist

For Attorney General:

Eric Schneiderman (D) State Sen., Attorney & Ex-Police Officer

Dan Donovan (R/C) Staten Island District Attorney

Ramon Jimenez (Freedom) Attorney

Stephen Lynch (IP)

Carl Person (Libertarian)

Amy Young (WF)

For US Senators, both seats are up for election:

Kirsten Gillibrand (D)

Joe DioGuardi (R/C)

Vivia Morgan (Anti-Prohibition)

Cecile Lawrence (Green)

John Clifton (Libertarian)

Joseph Huff (Rent Is Too Damn High)

Bruce Blakeman (Tax Revolt)

David Malpass (Taxpayers)

Chuck Schumer (D)

Jay Townsend (R/C)

Randy Credico (Anti-Prohibition/Libertarian)

James Germalic (Black/White)

Colia Clark (Green)

Gary Berntsen (Taxpayers)

And for House of Representatives district 21, it's:

Paul Tonko (D)

Ted Danz (R/C)

The list of candidates was found on www.uselections.com

There is also this website called Project Vote Smart: www.votesmart.org that helps you see which candidate agrees with you most on major issues. They have the candidates for the federal government but not the state government.

For local state election, there's

BK Karamati or Jim Tedisco for Assembly

Susan Savage or Hugh Farley for State Senate

I am ready to vote on Nov. 2