Election 2024

A little over a week out from a decisive national election, both the Democratic and Republican Parties are examining what the results say about where the country stands. Looking over the preliminary data from the New York State and Suffolk County Boards of Elections, as well as the archived data from past elections, one can see how Suffolk County has changed and what trends have emerged.

President-elect Donald Trump has named former First Congressional District Representative Lee Zeldin as his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency, saying he "will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet."

In East Hampton Town, Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte won a special election to serve another year on the town board, and voters overwhelmingly approved a proposition that will allow the town to remove the property sometimes called the Sherrill Triangle from its list of nature preserves so that it can be used for future road improvements.

Incumbent Representative Nick LaLota, a Republican, easily defeated his Democratic challenger, John Avlon, to be re-elected for a second term in what many believed would be a close race. As it turned out, it was not: Mr. LaLota grabbed 55.7 percent of the vote in the First Congressional District, while Mr. Avlon got 44.2 percent.

Early Wednesday, when Grindstone Coffee & Donuts in East Hampton Village opened, The Associated Press had called the swing state Wisconsin for Trump, putting him at 276 electoral votes. Reaction at the coffee shop, in this blue corner of red Suffolk County, which voted overwhelmingly for Trump, was less surprise and more resignation.

Following the re-election of State Senator Anthony Palumbo and the election of Tommy John Schiavoni to the Assembly, the South Fork will continue to be represented in Albany by both a Democrat and a Republican.

Incumbent Representative Nick LaLota, a Republican, appears to have easily defeated his Democratic challenger, John Avlon, to be re-elected to a second term. For State Senate here, Republican Anthony Palumbo prevailed over his challenger, Sarah Anker. And Tommy John Schiavoni, a Democrat, was the winner in the race to replace retiring State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

On Tuesday evening in Sag Harbor, people were busy casting ballots at the firehouse on Brick Kiln Road. The fire trucks themselves were seen and heard on Main Street during a victory parade for the Pierson-Bridgehampton field hockey team, which had just won the class C county championship game. And a small group of worshipers gathered at Christ Church to pray and meditate together, navigating their Election Day anxieties in the comfort of interfaith spiritual discourse and uplifting music.

On Thursday night, a group of fiber artists organized by Erica Huberty, Louise Eastman, and Laurie Lambrecht put up 35 handmade, nonpartisan signs across Sag Harbor Village, all containing a single-word message: "Vote." Village workers promptly took them all down on Friday morning, relegating them to garbage before the artists dug through the trash to save them.

“I can tell you — from long experience — that I have never questioned the veracity, the efficiency, and the effectiveness of the board of elections. They have always done a great job,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said on Friday as he and other county officials unveiled a new $2.8 million Early Voting Training Center in Yaphank that will be used as a training space for poll personnel, including those in East Hampton. 

In a special election, East Hampton Town Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte, who was appointed in January to fill the town board seat vacated when Kathee Burke-Gonzalez was sworn in as town supervisor, is running to keep the seat for the remaining year of Ms. Burke-Gonzalez’s term.

Voting takes place Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find a list here of polling places in East Hampton Town and eastern Southampton Town along with instructions for how to look up your polling place if you don't know it.

Election Day is Tuesday and regular polling stations will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., but those who want to cast their ballots early have until Sunday to do so at any Suffolk County early voting site, including one in East Hampton and one in Southampton.

Voters in East Hampton Town should vote "No" on Proposition 3. If approved, the proposition would allow town officials to take protected status away from a wooded, 2.4-acre triangle at the confluence of Three Mile Harbor and Springs-Fireplace Roads on North Main Street in East Hampton.

Representative Nick LaLota is in a tough spot: trying to present himself as a moderate while not appearing so cozy with Democrats that he risks alienating his conservative District 1 base.

State Senator Anthony Palumbo can be found on the Republican and Conservative ballot lines. We believe that he is the better choice for our end of Long Island.

For decency. For rationality. For science. For truth — and for many, many other reasons — we are for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Fred W. Thiele Jr., who has represented the East End in the State Assembly for nearly 30 years, leaves enormous shoes to fill. He has endorsed Tommy John Schiavoni to replace him, calling him the candidate with "the temperament, maturity, and leadership skills needed to get things done."

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is running for her third full term in New York against Mike Sapraicone, a retired N.Y.P.D. detective. 

This is a sample of the 2024 ballot for the general election in East Hampton Town. Click on the image above to view it larger and to see the back of the ballot, where the propositions can be found.

Bipartisanship and civility erode as the incumbent Republican congressman and his Democratic challenger in a dead-heat race meet face to face.

East Hampton Town residents casting ballots this year will find one proposition pertaining specifically to the town. Proposition 3 asks voters for approval to remove a triangle of land where North Main Street intersects with Three Mile Harbor and Springs-Fireplace Roads from the town’s nature preserve properties so that the area can be available for future road improvements.

Early voting begins on Saturday, and there are locations in East Hampton and Southampton where registered voters can cast ballots through Nov. 3.

The League of Women Voters is holding debates Monday between candidates for the First Congressional District and those vying to represent the East End in the New York State Senate. Both will be broadcast live on Southampton Town’s SEA-TV YouTube channel, where they will also be available for later viewing. 

While Election Day is still nearly three weeks away, there are several important deadlines coming up in New York. 

Voters across the South Fork will have two ballot propositions to consider on Election Day that could have an impact here: Proposition 1, on the Equal Rights Amendment to the New York State Constitution, and Proposition 2, on the Suffolk County Water Quality Restoration Act. 

In the First Assembly District, a key difference between the candidates — Southampton Town Councilman Tommy John Schiavoni, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, Stephen Kiely, the Shelter Island Town attorney — came into focus about halfway through a debate sponsored by the local chapter of the League of Women’s Voters on Oct. 7.

Technical difficulties prevented the live televising of Monday night’s debate between the two candidates running to represent the South Fork in the New York State.

The race for the East End’s State Senate seat is heating up between Anthony Palumbo, the Republican and Conservative incumbent, and Sarah Anker, a Democratic and Common Sense Suffolk candidate and former county legislator.

With just over a month before Election Day, the race in Congressional District 1 between Representative Nick LaLota, the Republican incumbent, and John Avlon, a former CNN anchor, is set to get interesting.