Springville, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's Election Day across Erie County, as a number of local residents flocked to the polls to cast their votes on important local races this year.
Of course, the marquee election this year in Erie County is the one for County Executive between Democratic incumbent Mark Poloncarz and his Republican challenger Chrissy Casilio. Poloncarz is seeking election for an unprecedented fourth term in office, while Casilio is a newcomer to the political scene and is looking for an upset.
Election Day is a day every year where people in the country get the chance to perform their civic duty to cast their votes in order to determine who will represent the community at the local, state, and federal level in a give year. It's a reason why many residents get out every first Tuesday in November to make their voices heard.
"Everyone says their vote doesn't matter, but if everyone said their vote doesn't matter, then there would be nothing to go off of. Everyone has a voice, and you've just got to make sure that your vote counts, your voice counts," said local voter Damian on Tuesday.
"I think there's a lot of nations that don't have the freedom to vote, so we should take advantage of the American freedom to vote. And I do believe that other people should take it more seriously than maybe they do."
"I think everybody should vote. It's the only way we have to control what happens in our country, and in our cities and towns," added local voter Betty Brown.
Local voter Chuck Weber doesn't feel there is enough emphasis nowadays on the significance of heading to the polls every Election Day and casting your votes. He feels it's important for more people to understand their civic duties as part of a community.
"I've always voted. When I turned 18, I made sure to get my registration, my selected service, and I vote in every election, no matter how small," Weber said on Tuesday.
"It was important for me to get out and vote today because you need to be heard as an American citizen," added voter Mary Kate Wirfel. "With everything going on in this world, you need to vote to make sure you have your rights and you keep your rights."
While this year is certainly not a busy election season with the local races being of significance on the ballot, many feel there are still races on the every year that are important to what's going to happen in your particular community.
"I'm just here to do my part," Damian said. "I vote for every single local and federal election, and I just really like voting. I like taking part in any community activity like that.
"Your local representation is very important, because these are the people that you see every day. These are the decisions that affect you locally, on your level that you see every day. Road construction, sewer, maintenance of this, maintenance of that, taking care of business, dealing with all of that," Weber added. "And then you look at the national stage, and we trust the people in Washington to do their job to make everything work. It's just a lot of small cogs turn out to be a big cog, and it's just the way the system works, and has worked."
And no matter who may be on the ballot in a given year, there's not much that's going to deter people from heading to the polls to vote.
If I'm dead. That's the only thing," Brown said. "I've come in on crutches before, so I'm gonna vote."
"I have been on one side for most of my life, and I was sort of raised that way. Me coming out and voting for the side that I want to vote on, it's probably not going to change because of everything that's going on," Wirfel added. "With social media and misinformation and everything, I kind of get nervous as to what side is controlling the other side."
