WBEN) - It's time for Erie County residents to exercise their right to vote.
Primary elections are slated for Tuesday, June 27. Polls open at 6 a.m. ET and close at 9 p.m. ET. Unlike early voting, voters on Primary Day are required to cast their vote at their specifically assigned polling location.
"I do still think people are getting used to the fact that we have primaries in June," said Erie County Board of Elections Commissioner Jeremy Zellner. "Obviously, they were moved from September and we're trying to do the best we can to get the word out because these primaries sometimes end up being the race for the district, because there's sometimes, not a general election, particularly in the City of Buffalo, so these elections are critical. Oftentimes, they're decided by a handful of votes."
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Political analyst Carl Calabrese expects a low turnout to the polls this Tuesday, as is the case in most primaries, and although there really aren't any "high profile" races in his mind, he does note some interesting races, particularly the Republican primary race for the 10th District of the Erie County Legislature.
"You've got the incumbent who was appointed this year, James Malczewski, versus Lindsay Lorigo, whose father-in-law happens to be Ralph Lorigo, the chairman of the Conservative Party.
That's a battle that has produced an awful lot of heat ever since the appointment was made and Lorigo was passed over for that appointment. Now you've got a primary on both Republican and Conservative lines. It's been a very hot primary, and I'm sure that if you live in that district, you've been flooded with people coming to your door and mail slingers and all kinds of things to convince you to vote for one or the other, but that's an interesting one."
Other races to note include the races for Buffalo Common Council seats in the Masten and North districts. Council President Darius Pridgen and representative of the Masten District, Ulysees Wingo, will both step down from their positions at the end of this year.
The candidates for Masten are India Walton, who won the Democratic primary last term against Mayor Byron Brown, only to lose to him when he became the write-in candidate, and Zeneta Everhart, the mother of Tops shooting survivor Zaire Goodman, and NYS Senator Tim Kennedy's Director of Diversity and Inclusion.
The North District seat is the most heavily-contested. There are four democratic candidates running: Leah M Halton-Pope, Cedric Holloway, Matt Dearing and Emin Eddie Egriu. As turnout is expected to be low for the primaries, this puts a lot more emphasis on raising the funding and getting out to shaking the hands of your community.
"It's expensive, politics, even at the local level, for a town-wide position is going to take money. That's one of the other characteristics of a successful candidate, besides having the right position on the issues and having the right organization. Do they have the money to communicate those things?" adds Calabrese.