TOWN OF MAMAKATING, NY — New York State is famous for making it easy to vote on various lines. For instance, this year Lillian Hendrickson is running for town supervisor on the Bring Back Bethel line against incumbent Dan Sturm who is running on the Democratic, Conservative and Independence party lines.

In recent years, the Rural Heritage line has been important in bringing support to various candidates, but voting rules are such that some candidates who have been endorsed by the Rural Heritage operation will not be appearing on the Rural Heritage line, but will be appearing on other lines where the Rural Heritage representation has been combined with an established party.

One example is Catherine Owens, who is running to become legislator in district 2. She has been endorsed by Rural Heritage but has also received nominations from the Republican Party and the Reform Party. Owens, however, will not be appearing on the Rural Heritage line on the ballot, but instead her Rural Heritage presence will be joined with her Reform Party presence and people who wish to vote on for her on the Rural Heritage line, will instead be forced to vote for her on the Reform Party line, although the box on the ballot will reflect both lines.

The determining factor here is that Rural Heritage is an independent line, whereas the Reform Party is an established party. The rules say that if a person is endorsed by two or more established parties, then any independent lines must be folded into the lines of one of the established parties. If, however, a candidate is endorsed by only one established party, and an independent line, the rule does not apply. Thus Owen’s husband, Bill Hermann, the current supervisor of the town of Mamakating, will be appearing on the Democratic line and the Rural Heritage line.

Jonathan Rouis, the incumbent legislator and Owen’s opponent, will be appearing on three lines because all three are considered established parties: Democratic, Conservative and Independence.

This confusing rule will also have an impact on another race in the Town Mamakating. Christine Saward, who was endorsed by Rural Heritage, will not be appearing on that line because she also is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines.

This rule and its application in the current election caught some of the people involved in Mamakating politics off guard.

Hermann took to the Rural Heritage Facebook page to register his frustration. He wrote, “Our grassroots effort for the Rural Heritage petition produced more signatures than any other ‘major’ party line! This is supposed to be democracy in action.

“ONLY Bill Herrmann and Janet Lybolt will appear on the line. Christine Saward was put on the Working Families line and Catherine Owens was put on the Reform Party line. Even the Rural Heritage line is presented in lettering half the size of the other parties. This is prejudicial, giving the party a distinct disadvantage in the electoral process.

“When we win this election, I promise to make it my personal agenda to work at making noise in Albany to fix all the election loopholes we have found over the past two years.”

In the Town of Mamakating, Rural Heritage candidates have been associated with being in opposition to the 396-unit development project mounted by developer Shalom Lamm. Two recent elections in the Village of Bloomingburg, which is located within the Town of Mamakating, have been tainted with allegations of voter fraud, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations is reportedly still looking into the matter.