JAMESTOWN-County Lawmaker and County Executive hopeful George Borrello believes great things are in store for Southern Chautauqua County.
Borrello made his comments during a recent walking tour in and around a Jamestown neighborhood.
“People do have hope that we’re going to turn things around here,” he said. “Every place that we’ve gone, people have had a great idea or something to offer or something they want to contribute.”
Garnering the attention of voters, especially the younger ones, in a County Executive election year cycle may be a challenge according to Chautauqua County Democratic Chairman Norm Green.
“Last year we were at one of the highest voter turnouts in the State of New York, and we had a little more than 70 percent voter turnout in Chautauqua County,” Green said. “I expect our voter turnout will hover around 30 percent, if it goes over that, it’ll be a good day.”
Whether voters flock to the polls remains to be seen. According to voter registration numbers obtained by WNY News Now, there are more than 14,000 registered voters in the City of Jamestown and more than 2,000 of those registered are between the ages of 35-44 with the median age in the city being 38 years old according to citydata.com.
There are also more than 1,000 registered voters in the city between the ages of 19-24. Many people believe that those votes are critical based on the changes that the county is going through in terms of age and racial shifts.
A man who told us he was 20 years old during the course of Borrello’s tour told us that he thinks his vote matters and that he plans to vote in the upcoming election.
“I feel like every vote matters,” he said. “Every one has an opinion, every one has a right to vote.”