The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will host a debate between the candidates for East Hampton Town supervisor and, separately, one among candidates for town board on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. via Zoom.
Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc, running on the Democratic and Working Families Party tickets, and Councilman Jeff Bragman, running on the Independence Party line, will debate. The league’s Estelle Gellman will moderate.
Ken Walles, the Republican and Conservative Party candidate for supervisor, said in a recent letter to The Star that he would not participate in a debate via video conference.
The five candidates for two seats on the town board are Councilwoman Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, who is seeking a third term and running on the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, Cate Rogers, the former chairwoman of the East Hampton Democratic Committee and also a Democratic and Working Families Party candidate, and John Whelan, chairman of the town’s zoning board of appeals. Mr. Whelan sought but did not receive the Democrats’ endorsement. He is endorsed by the East Hampton Independence Party.
Joe Karpinski and George Aman, the Republican and Conservative Party candidates, previously declined to participate in debates by video conference.
The debate will be broadcast live on LTV’s Channel 20 and on its YouTube channel.
Candidates to represent the Suffolk County Legislature’s Second District will debate on Monday at 7 p.m. Legislator Bridget Fleming, a Democrat, and Robert Carpenter, a Republican, will participate. The moderator will be the league’s Cathy Peacock. It will be broadcast live on Southampton Town’s SEA-TV and its YouTube channel.
The candidates will make timed opening and closing statements and answer questions submitted in advance to Barbara McClancy, the league’s voter services committee chairwoman, at [email protected].
The mail-in deadline for absentee ballot applications is Monday, while the mail-in postmark deadline for the return of absentee ballots is Election Day, Nov. 2. Voter registration forms are also available at the New York State Board of Elections website, elections.ny.gov.
Early voting happens from Oct. 23 to 31. For East Hampton Town residents, the early voting site will be Community Room 2 at Windmill Village at 219 Accabonac Road. For Southampton Town residents, the site is the Stony Brook Southampton campus gym at 70 Tuckahoe Road. There is no early voting site on Shelter Island. Registered voters in Suffolk can vote at any of the county’s 12 early voting sites.