Election turnout in Chautauqua County was once again quite low.

According to both Republican Election Commissioner Nacole Ellis and Democratic Election Commissioner Luz Torres, about 25 to 26% of registered voters cast a ballot in the 2025 contest.

Before the election, they had said they were predicting as much as 35% voter turnout, but that ended up not being the case.

When asked why turnout was so low, neither election commissioner could give a reason.

“I really don’t know,” Ellis said.

“Sometimes people decide to vote, sometimes they don’t vote,” Torres said.

The election commissioners said there were a total of 19,894 votes cast in the 2025 election day, between early voting and showing up at the polls on Election Day.

There were 3,939 votes cast in early voting, which appears to be slightly under 20%.

Of all the races this year, there are two that could be affected by absentee ballots.

For County Legislative District 12, which is encompassed entirely in the city of Jamestown, incumbent Fred Larson unofficially received 524 votes against challenger Jeffrey Russell received 480 votes.

Larson ran on the Democratic and Taxpayer’s lines, while Russell ran on the Republican and Conservative lines.

Larson leads the race by 44 votes.

Ellis said in District 12, there are 52 absentees that have yet to be returned. Those would have had to be postmarked by Nov. 4 and be received in the office by Nov. 12. In that race, 69 absentee ballots were returned, with 58 of them included in the election total.

There were also seven affidavit votes cast. Ellis explained that a provisional affidavit ballot is used when a person shows up at a poll to vote, but his/her name is not on the rolls, a signature is not available, or that the individual recently moved and did not inform the Board of Elections. In those cases, investigations are done to see if the vote cast should count or not.

The other race that could be affected by absentee ballots are the three At Large Jamestown City Council seats.

There were five candidates running for three seats. Unofficially, Russell Bonfiglio, who ran on the Republican and Conservative lines, received 1,804 votes; Jeremy D. Engquist, who ran on the Democratic line received 1,793 votes; and Daniel A. Gonzalez, who ran on the Democratic line, received 1,785 votes. In addition, Michael Zanghi received 1,741 votes and Randall Daversa received 1,681 votes. They both ran on the Republican and Conservative lines.

There are 52 votes that separate Gonzalez and Zanghi.

Ellis said there were a total of 216 absentee ballots issued in the city. Of that amount, 160 absentee ballots citywide that have not been considered. Thirty-eight of them have been received but not included in the original total announced. Again, an absentee ballot can be counted if it is postmarked by Nov. 4 and received by the Board of Elections by Nov. 12.

In addition, Ellis said there are 22 affidavit ballots that need to be researched.

There are two other races that have not yet been announced, due to an election office open without a name.

In Cherry Creek, there were two seats open for town council, with one candidate on the ballot. Becky Rowicki, who ran on the Republican line, received 108 votes. In addition, there were 48 write-in names.

In Cassadaga, there was one name listed on the ballot for two trustee seats. Jeffrey Frick, who ran on the Republican line, received 161 votes. In addition, there were 300 write-in candidates.

Ellis said they are not providing the names that were submitted as write-in candidates for either race until the election is certified, which will happen the week of Nov. 17. Part of the reason is due to absentee ballots yet received and affidavit ballots which need to be researched.

Overall, Ellis and Torres said they were pleased with how the election went this year, with only minor issues, including having to call in substitute poll workers when a scheduled worker called off or didn’t show up.