The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island, and the North Fork will sponsor a virtual debate between the candidates for the New York State Senate’s First District on Monday from 7 to 8 p.m. on Southampton Town’s SEA-TV.
Senator Anthony Palumbo, the incumbent, and his Democratic Party challenger, Christopher Murray, an attorney who has led the boards of Citizens Campaign for the Environment and Suffolk Community College, will participate in the live debate, which also can be seen on SEA-TV’s YouTube channel starting on Tuesday. The candidates will make timed opening and closing statements and answer a series of questions contributed by members of the community and the league.
Forum on Election Threats
On Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., the league will host a forum, “Voting Rights and the 2026 Midterms: Election Challenges, Threats, and Integrity,” with two election law experts, David Becker and Jerry Goldfeder. The forum will also be live on SEA-TV and available on its YouTube channel starting next Thursday.
Mr. Becker is the founder and executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Election Innovation and Research based in Washington, D.C., and the former senior trial attorney in the federal Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division’s Voting Section.
Mr. Goldfeder is the director of the Voting Rights and Democracy Project at Fordham Law School and chairman of the American Bar Association’s Election Law Committee.
Andrea Gabor, the league’s government committee chairwoman and the Bloomberg professor of business journalism at Baruch College, will moderate the discussion. “Together, we will examine the legal landscape surrounding voting rights, the integrity of election administration, and the threats and safeguards that will shape who votes — and how — in November 2026,” Ms. Gabor said in a statement.
Election information on candidates will be available early next month in the league’s electronic voters guide by going to vote411.org and entering one’s address.
Early voting starts on Oct. 24 and continues through Nov. 1. In East Hampton Town, the early voting site is Windmill Village at 219 Accabonac Road, East Hampton. Election Day is Nov. 3, with polling stations open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
