Special City Election for DPW Commissioner/Council Member Gets Underway with Early Voting Saturday, Jan. 18 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Readying for retirement after serving ballot-casters in Saratoga the past 15 or so years, the county’s aging voting machines will be pressed back into service one more time for a special election to place in Saratoga Springs.  

Election Day is Tuesday, Jan. 28. In advance of Election Day, nine days of early voting will get underway Saturday Jan. 18 in a citywide vote to elect a Commissioner of Public Works in Saratoga Springs.

The election will decide the DPW Commissioner/ fifth city council member to complete the regular balance of the term, which concludes Dec. 31, 2025. All five city councilmember positions – four commissioners and a mayor – will be up for new two-year terms this November.  

City Republicans are backing Chuck Marshall for the position. Marshall, a former member of the Saratoga County Sewer Commission, currently serves as chair of the Saratoga Springs Planning Board and is employed as director of real estate at Stewart’s. Marshall’s name appears on the ballot.

City Democrats meanwhile are backing interim DPW commissioner Hank Kuczynski. Kuczynski – who had previously served as city deputy mayor – was unanimously approved by the City Council as interim DPW Commissioner on Oct. 29 and currently occupies the seat. 

As Democrats did not secure a pre-marked slot on the actual ballot, voters favoring candidate Kuczynski will need to physically write his name in, in the ballot’s “write-in” box.    

Machine Music

Last September, the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of 241 new voting machines and associated equipment from Clear Ballot Group, Inc. at a total cost of $1.76 million to replace the aging voting machines in use. The new machines will be operational this year, but Saratoga Springs residents voting in the special election will see a return to the familiar.  

“We’re using the old machines that still work. The reason is the human learning curve is a couple of months, to get everyone trained on them,” explained Saratoga County Republican Election Commissioner Joseph Suhrada. 

The chain of custody of election equipment should be maintained from acceptance to proper disposal, according to The U.S. Election Assistance Commission – an independent, bipartisan commission established by the Help America Vote Act of 2002. The Commission notes there are security risks associated with the disposal, sale, or destruction of computer equipment and storage devices, and instructs that prior to disposal, all equipment be “sanitized” – that is, the process of removing all data from a device.

The new machines will be instituted for use during the special election for the 21st Congressional District, anticipated to take place this spring. 

“That’s when I expect we’ll employ them,” Suhrada said.   

That special election will involve a race to fill the presumed vacancy of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The ambassador post requires Senate confirmation and Stefanik must resign her congressional seat in the 21st District – which may happen as soon as next week – after which follows a political pinball process to set a date set for the regional special election to take place.  

“We expect (Stefanik’s resignation) to occur around Jan. 20 from what we’ve been told, and with the special election anywhere from 71 to 90 days out from her resignation – that places us somewhere at the middle or end of April,” Suhrada said. “And at that stage we will use our new machines.”  

The 21st Congressional District special election will be open to voters in dozens of Saratoga County polling districts from the northeast section of the county to the northwest – the towns of Saratoga, Corinth, Moreau, Hadley, and a portion of Wilton among them. 

Saratoga Springs Special Election

In Saratoga Springs meanwhile, all registered city voters may take part in the special election for Saratoga Springs DPW Commissioner.   

Early Voting will take place at the Saratoga Springs (Scott Johnson) Rec Center at 15 Vanderbilt Ave. and gets underway Saturday, Jan.  18 and continues for a total of 9 days, until Sunday, Jan. 26, inclusively.  Those Early Voting times are: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day – except Monday, Jan. 20 and Wednesday, Jan. 22 when the polls will be open noon – 8 p.m. 

On Election Day – Tuesday, Jan. 28 – all city polling sites will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

The position of DPW Commissioner position is both departmental and legislative. The commissioner is responsible for oversight of Saratoga Springs’ street and highway maintenance, its buildings and grounds, and for ensuring that the water system provides sufficient quantities of safe potable water, among other duties. 

The position also plays a role in the legislative body of city government by placing the commissioner at the City Council table. The Council proposes and enacts legislation and establishes policy for the city. The mayor and four commissioners form the five-member City Council, and having five members is key in potentially acting as a tiebreaking vote in any deadlocked city-related decisions at the table where majority rules.    

There are approximately 21,000 registered voters in Saratoga Springs’ 25 voting districts, according to 2024 state Board of Election enrollment data. About 40% are registered as Democrats, 28% as Republicans, 26% as “blanks” – or those actively registered with no party affiliation, and the remaining 6% registered are with other parties. 

While Republican candidate Chuck Marshall’s name appears on the ballot, residents wishing to vote for the Democratic Party backed Hank Kuczynski will need to write in his name. The exact spelling of the candidate’s name is not as much an issue as it once was, Suhrada said, when asked about the issue.         

“At the end of the day, as long as it’s determined that it is him, a misspelling is no longer disqualified as it may have been 50 years ago,” he said, pointing to a ruling on the matter made approximately 20 years ago by Judith S. Kaye, longtime Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals.   

“So, if I put down Hank Kuczynski and I use a Y instead of an I, or an I instead of a Y – they know that I mean Kuczynski,” Suhrada said. “Now that being said – they do have to put it in a certain place on the ballot. It is involved no doubt, but spellings? No.”