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Broome County candidates, where to vote

Primary elections take place across New York Tuesday. In Broome County, that includes the race for district attorneys. Vestal voters will also see candidates for town boards and town supervisors on the ballot.

Polls are open from 6 am to 9 pm in the Southern Tier.

Here’s what you need to know for the 2023 primary elections.

Am I eligible to vote in New York?

Voters registered with a party may vote to nominate that party’s candidate in a primary election.

Here are the qualifications to vote in New York:

  • You must be a US citizen;

  • Be 18 or older;

  • Not be in prison for a felony conviction;

  • Not claiming the right to vote elsewhere;

  • And not found to be incompetent by a court.

Where is my poll place?

You can look up where you are registered to vote, and which polling place you can attend, at voterlookup.elections.ny.gov.

For Broome County voters, your polling place in the primary election may differ from your typical polling place. Check your poll site at broomevotes.com/pollingplaces.

Who’s on the ballot in Broome County?

The race for Broome County District Attorney will see a rematch between incumbent District Attorney Michael Korchak and defense attorney Paul Battisti.

Following a six-year stint with the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office, Korchak served as assistant district attorney under Gerald Mollen from 1996 to 2007. He left public office for private practice after unsuccessfully challenging Mollen for the top prosecutor spot in 2007. Korchak served as Union Town Justice from 2014 to 2016 before returning to the DA’s office to work as chief assistant prosecutor under his predecessor, Stephen Cornwell.

Korchak lost the 2019 Republican primary to Battisti, but narrowly defeated him in the general election as a Libertarian candidate.

Battisti has worked as a private-practice defense lawyer representing criminal defendants at the state and federal court levels. The Broome County native has also worked as a board member on the Broome Drug Treatment Court Team and is a former president of the Broome County Bar Association.

The two have recently been at odds over the question of how cases have been dismissed by prosecutors in recent years. Battisti has claimed the current office has failed in its handling of cases, citing state documents indicating more than 7,000 being dismissed. Korchak later called Battisti’s comments “irresponsible” and pointed to a felony conviction rate more than double the state average.

Who’s on the ballot in Vestal?

A trio of new candidates calling themselves “Real Democracy 4 Vestal” are challenging the incumbent town supervisor and two town council members in Vestal.

Maria Sexton, a retired New York Police Department sergeant and former social studies teacher, will face longtime Vestal Town Supervisor John Schaffer in Tuesday’s primary. Schaffer is running on both Democrat and Conservative party lines.

Incumbent Democratic Council Member Patty Fitzgerald will face Glenn Miller, a retired data analyst from Arizona, and Robert Greene, a retired Army sergeant and software engineer for BAE systems, both of whom are running alongside Sexton under the “Real Democracy 4 Vestal” banner.

Republican newcomers Theodore Wolf and Patrick McPherson are running for supervisor and council member, respectively.

This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Primary Election Day 2023 in Binghamton, Broome County: What to know