Normal Polling Places Open for Tuesday's Special Election

A special election will be held Tuesday as Southold Town Councilman Al Krupski and Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter vie for a vacant seat on the Suffolk County Legislature.

According to the Suffolk County Board of Elections, voting will take place Tuesday from 6 a.m. till 9 p.m. Residents voting in the special election are asked to head to their normal polling places to cast their ballots.

A list of North Fork voting locations are as follows:

Fishers Island Community Center

Orient: Poquatuck Hall

East Marion Fire Department

Greenport Methodist Church

Greenport Fire Department

Greenport Public School

Southold Fire Department

Southold High School

Peconic: Southold Recreation Center

Cutchogue Fire Department

Cutchogue East Elementary School

Mattituck High School

The special election follows Ed Romaine's win on Election Night to earn the Brookhaven Supervisor's seat. Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter earned the nod to take his place as the Republican nominee for the First Legislative District seat.

Walter will face off against  

Walter said county officials asked him to run for the seat on Republican and Conservative party lines.

Walter touted his experience as Riverhead's supervisor as well, as opposed to "someone who just sits as a town board member. Being the CEO of a town, as much as anyone really can be, is a different task."

Krupski, a former Trustee who runs Krupski's Pumpkin and Vegetable Farm in Cutchogue and has been on the Southold Town Board since 2005, was named as County Democrat Chairman Rich Schaffer's candidate of choice on Election Night.

The Riverhead supervisor ended up topping a field of eight GOP candidates who were seeking the seat. The following individuals also screened: Riverhead Councilwoman Jodi Giglio; Riverhead Councilman John Dunleavy; Bill Faulk, Chief Aide to Romaine; Catherine Stark, Chief Aide to Legislator Jay Schneiderman; Jim Saladino, former Riverhead Conservative Committee chairman; and Frank Seabrook, a ZBA member and publisher of the online New York Liberty Report. 

Krupski said in mid-November that the county's role in preserving the character of the area is one of the biggest reasons he's running for the seat.

“There are so many issues of land preservation and dredging and maintenance of our local waterways that is taken care of by the county,” he said. “I think it’s important to have that kind of balance of representation in the legislature.”

The candidates engaged in a recent debate; both Walter and Krupski discussed their platforms in recent interviews with Patch.