We've still got plenty of precincts that have yet to report, but in many races, we're past the half way point and we're looking at growing leads for Republicans Mike Ranzenhofer and Chris Lee. Ranzenhofer leads Democrat Joe Mesi 29,049 to 27,483 in Erie County. Lee leads Kryzan 78,301 to 57,615 throughout the district, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

Election results are startin to come in from Erie County—we will likely have to wait until after 10 o'clock to hear about the results out of Genesee County.

In Erie, Republican Mike Ranzenhofer leads Democrat Joe Mesi in the 61st State Senate District by a very slim margin of 107 votes and two percentage points. Republican Chris Lee leads Democrat Alice Kryzan in the 26th Congressional District by a margin of 135 votes. That's especially unfortunate for Kryzan as Jon Powers pulled exactly that many votes on the Working Families line, though Powers stands no chance to win the race, having lost the Democratic nod to Kryzan in the primary.

Totals in the race for the 61st are from about 10 percent of the districts reporting. Those for the 26th are from about 6 percent.

We will post more results as they come in. In addition to Genesee County, we're also waiting on results for Wyoming, Monroe and Livingston counties.

(Update - 9:47pm): Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle has some more comprehensive numbers up. Nothing from Monroe or Genesee. Yet, they show Lee with a more significant lead over Kryzan right now, 19,490 and 13,992 respectively. The gap in Erie County also seems to be growing.With 24 percent of the precincts reporting there, Kryzan has a total of 8,832 to Lee's 9,377.

We tried to catch some first-time voters as they came out of the polls today in Batavia. Unfortunately, we only ran into a handful of them, and only three were willing to chat with us on camera. All three of them were girls, and all three voted Democrat, at least in the presidential election. Here's what they had to say:

While we were down at the Democratic headquarters this afternoon, 26th Congressional Candidate Alice Kryzan, who was stopping by on her tour across the district throughout the day. We asked Kryzan how the day had gone and what she saw on the campaign trail.

Earlier today, we stopped by the Genesee County Democratic and Republican headquarters in Batavia to see how the campaigns were doing as we come down the stretch. It couldn't have worked out better, as we ran into everybody's favorite Democrat Dan Jones and everybody's favorite Republican Jay Grasso.

Here's what they had to say about how hard they're working and why their side will win tonight. Who sounds more convincing?

How many voters haven't paid close attention to the election, just saw the negative commercials and then decided to vote for the third-party candidate?

Blogger Lauren, from Rochester, suggests she was planning to vote for Jon Powers:

The problem is that I've been watching Rochester TV for the past two months and can recite word for word all the low budget smear campaign commercials of local political hopefuls there.

I know all about Alice Kryzan and Chris Lee and how Alice accuses Chris of sending jobs to China and only caring about his small business making money, and Chris likes to constantly remind everyone how Alice is a "liberal trial lawyer". Truth be told, I side with Alice because at least she's acquainted with the law. Chris owns some electrician business or something equally unrelated to politics and is probably just trying to get in office so he can vote against Joe the Plumber taxes and maybe lower minimum wage. If I voted in Rochester, I'd probably vote for a third party guy simply because he didn't subject me to ominously voiced-over shitty commercials for two months, and leaving me the hell alone during It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is what I truly value in a candidate.

Despite every effort to get Kryzan on the Working Families line, the courts kept Powers, who reportedly moved out of state, on it.

It will be interesting to see how many votes that line gets and then speculate whether it could have made a difference.

While these elections haven't really captured my attention, I always like to know what is going on around town. I went out to visit a few polling stations in the city (Holland Land Office, Robert Morris, YMCA) and for an early afternoon while most people are still at work, there was a decent turnout.

I talked with a lot of people about the importance of doing their duty as Americans and making that vote. Many of the people were very passionate about that.

Some of the volunteers I spoke with said that the early morning saw a ton of Batavians out voting and they expect it to be swamped after people get out of work.

 As I was out checking out some polling spots in Batavia, I happened to notice some fire trucks on Union St.

I stopped to see what was going on and it wasn't anything too serious, but somebody lost their lawnmower.

Apparently some dry leaves got caught up in the mower and started the blaze.

We're going to get a little air time on WHAM tonight. Evan Dawson has invited me to appear on the the station's 10 p.m. election coverage.  I'll be there to talk about the 26th District Congressional race.

For anybody visiting The Batavian for the first time from the link on Evan's blog, you can check out our congressional race coverage on this link or this link.

And Evan called me a Libertarian.  I'd never use the big L -- being non-partisan, or the slightly insulting "blank" in New York political lingo  -- and I think more apt is decentralist and localist, and of course a strong belief in individual liberty.

Thanks to my friend Rottenchester of the Fighting 29th blog for arranging this. It will be the first time 16 years that I've been on TV as a journalist to talk about elections.

Pontillo's closed Monday morning and will remain that way for a couple of weeks or more, according to the Daily News. The restaurant will undergo renovations in that time.

In other news, the city school district—along with others all over the state—have been warned "to brace themselves about future state aid," according to Pat Burk, Batavia's Board of Education president. More info should become available in a couple weeks.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

The battle between Democrat Alice Kryzan and Republican Chris Lee for the 26th Congressional District is entering the ninth inning, and the someone from the GOP opposition has called in a pinch hitter. There's only one problem, the slugger won't tell us his name.

The Kryzan campaign is alleging that an anti-Kryzan flier that has been arriving on doorsteps in Amherst this morning is illegal. In fact, campaign spokesperson Anne Wadsworth told us that the campaign crew that arrived at the volunteer center in Amherst at 5:30 this morning found a flier waiting for them. They have not yet gathered how many have gone out, nor how widely distributed they are, but we should find out more as the day goes on.

"Telling lies about Alice's record is nothing new for Chris Lee and his supporters," said Wadsworth. "But to put this out on election day is a continuation of the smear campaign they've been running. We know that Chris Lee has problems with ethics, but this effort by his supporters to mislead voters today—of all days—shows blatant disregard for the election laws and the truth."

A representative of the campaign for Chris Lee told us that they were not aware of any such fliers being distributed. We're waiting on an official statement from them that should come later this morning.

Genesee County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dawn Cassidy told us that if the flier were placed in a mailbox, the activity would certainly be illegal. Also, if it's a paid advertisement—negative or not—whoever paid for it has to say so on the flier.

However, says Cassidy, "if someone's running off Xerox copies from home, I don't know how we can track it down. ... If they put it in a mailbox and there's no postage, that's a problem. But still, I don't know how we can stop that."

Have you heard of any last ditch attempts to sway the vote that don't seem so kosher? Send us your reports of any potential problem you encounter at the polls, at home or at work today. We'll be sure to get them right up on our site.

The NY Department of Elections has release final voter registration totals for 2008 (PDF).

In Genesee County

In the 26th Congressional District:

This photo and video footage of last night's fire in Pavilion, at an apartment above the Post Office, was submitted by Kevin Clary.

No one was injured in the blaze. Check out our earlier post for the details.

If you had to pick a race statewide that could determine what party has the majority in the New York State Senate, look no further than the 61st Senate District. Democratic candidate Joe Mesi is taking on Republican Mike Ranzenhofer in a very close and hotly contested race.

Tonight, Mesi held a gathering in Batavia. At left it was I encountered when I pulled up to park for the event. What I didn't get on camera was the half-dozen Ranzenhofer supporters that decided they would stand in front of the event's venue - Main Street Cafe - holding Ranzenhofer signs. Apparently they decided that since the Democrats had been doing it for awhile in front of their headquarters, they would do it on the eve of the election.

But inside the event was a great atmosphere. At its peak, the event had 40-50 people. There were people of all ages in attendance for pizza, mingling with Mesi and a nice enjoyable evening before Election Day.

Mesi also addressed the crowd. You can hear the bulk of his remarks in this video:  

I remember first meeting Joe Mesi. That was nearly seven months ago. You could tell then that he was still learning. He was educating himself about the important issues and told the story that led to his candidacy. His brother lost his job at American Axle and that motivated Mesi to run for office.

Since my interview with Mesi, he has evolved into quite a candidate. His Plan for Change is pure genius. I say that because he put his platform into an easy-to-read booklet that was available at his campaign headquarters and handed out tonight at the gathering. Candidates usually use basic talking points on the stump or ramble on about what their policy positions are. Instead of doing that, Mesi decided to put his plans and his positions on paper for the world to see. That way, if there are any questions about where he stands, you can refer to the booklet.

So why should the people of the 61st Senate District elect Joe Mesi their state senator? Mesi is genuine. He truly cares about Western New York. This is where he built his life. This is where he became a heavyweight boxer. This is where he became a local star. And this is where he wants to stay, raise his own family and better the region that has given so much to him. He will be a great state senator for Erie and Genesee counties and he will represent them well.

Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle has put together a nice package for Election Day. They're running a live blog throughout the day, allowing reporters—and readers—to file photographs, video and narrative sippets from the field. Here's some of what I found by digging around the site this morning:

Obama has edge among Buffalo Bills players... Yep, that's right. A reporter in the Bills locker room polled the players on their pick for president. This article is quite funny. After a lengthy quote from Bills quarterback Trent Edwards—in which he declaims the need for, you got it, "serious change"—the reporter, whose name is not amended to the article, writes:

Edwards appears to be in the majority, according to my totally unscientific, random poll of 15 Bills players. Obama received about 60 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Republican John McCain with 13 percent undecided. Our poll's margin for error? Huge.

"I don't know if we're exactly representative of the general public," Edwards said, smiling. "I wouldn't draw many conclusions from what you discover from us."

The president of the Bills offense is right to caution us against making any projections from these findings. After all, this is an NFL locker room populated mostly by millionaires. You won't find any Joe Sixpacks or Joe the Plumbers on the 53-man Bills roster.

Really, a fun article worth checking out.

One of the live bloggers picked up a story from the Associated Press about a tiny town in New Hampshire that has long maintained a tradition of being the first in the nation to tally its ballots. Sen. Barack Obama won the day there.

With 115 residents between them, Dixville Notch and Hart's Location get every eligible voter to the polls beginning at midnight on Election Day. Between them, the towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948.

Being first means something to residents of the Granite State, home of the nation's earliest presidential primary and the central focus - however briefly - of the vote-watching nation's attention every four years.

Town Clerk Rick Erwin said Dixville Notch is proud of its tradition, but added, "The most important thing is that we exemplify a 100 percent vote."

They've even got the token quote in this one about this "historic" election.

Another live blogger got up this interesting bit of info:

Susan B. Anthony, portrayed by Rochesterian Barbara Blaisdell, will lead a group of women at 11:30 a.m. today from the Susan B. Anthony House, 17 Madison St., to the site on West Main Street where Anthony and a group of women voted in the 1872 presidential election, according to the Susan B. Anthony House.

Two weeks after the 1872 election, Anthony was arrested for voting. 

Visitors from Nigeria and  Sudan, who are guests of the  state department  and are in the United States to observe the national election process, are expected to attend the event.

We're hoping to get up some great coverage ourselves here at The Batavian today. I know I will be out among the polls, talking with voters, getting the numbers. But that doesn't mean you have to wait for me. Please, feel free and be encouraged to get up your own Election Day story. If you've got a camera, take a picture. If you've got a video camera, make a video. We'll get your story right up to the homepage for everyone to share.

A fire broke out in an apartment above the Pavilion Post Office shortly before midnight last night, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. A family of three escaped without injury. Fischer reports that 11 fire companies from three counties came out to battle the blaze. "Most of the mail" was saved, but the Post Office suffered some water damage.

(UPDATE): Earlier this morning, one of our readers attempted to anonymously submit photos and a video clip of the Pavilion fire. Those submissions did not come through. If you tried to send those to us, please send me an e-mail so that we can work out what went wrong and get up the information on the site for all of our readers. If you wish, you may remain anonymous.

Last month, the 4-H Student Legislator program got underway, and The Batavian was there when the local government interns sat with the Genesee County Legislature for the first time—check out our post to find out more about that. Last week, we followed along again. This time, the interns got together at the Genesee County Nursing Home, where a couple dozen county government staffers came together to talk about what they do and take questions from the interns. Everyone from the sheriff to the clerk of the legislature was present.

The first time we got together, I asked some of the interns what their first impressions were about the county, the government, the legislature, and most of them didn't yet know what to think. Well, they've seen quite a bit since then, including some tours around the county of sites such as the airport, the county highway department and the Holland Land Office Museum. So this time we connected, I asked them what they've been learning and what they hope to do with their new knowledge. 

Today's Daily News is understandably devoted to election coverage. Four stories on the front page, plus another handful sprinkled through the rest of the paper take up everything from the musings of local voters to the specifics of some of the area's contested races—including the the 59th and 62nd State Senate districts, along with Town Board races in Le Roy and Albion. Heck, there's even an article on the uncontested race of state Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

Oddly, aside from a blurb in a wire story tucked into the bottom of page eight, there's no mention of the 61st Senate District race between Democrat Joe Mesi and Republican Mike Ranzenhofer. The 61st district includes Batavia and Genesee County. News of the 26th Congressional District race—aside from a brief mention of the ballot change on page two—was also relegated to page eight, and only as part of a larger wire story about national trends. Yet, again, that's the district that includes Batavia and Genesee County. Instead, the three race-specific front page stories take up contests in Orleans and Erie counties, as well as a piece on Hawley that amounts to little more than a pat on the back for the unopposed Assemblyman.

In an article by Roger Muehlig on page one, some area voters have their say on the imminent elections. I was especially intrigued by the comments from Jim McNally of Batavia who told Muehlig:

...he plans to vote, but probably won't decide who gets his vote until he's in the voting booth.

"I don't think much of this because I don't like anybody who's running," he said.

McNally, 45, said he wasn't just referring to the presidential candidates.

"Any of them."

So many news outlets have been billing this election as "historic"—an amorphous, often meaningless designation—and have frequently made stories out of record voter registration across the country and the ineluctable enthusiasm of the populace. Yet we still have folks out there who are completely uninspired by the slate of candidates from top to bottom. Such people—and I sometimes count myself among their ranks, depending on my mood—don't at all exhibit the sense of urgency that we've been made to believe reigns supreme.

Muehlig's article is a perfect example of this. It's a well-crafted piece of journalism that fulfills its simple promise of man-on-the-street news reporting. Yet the title—Fervor mounts as vote nears—seems directly contradicted by the content. Sure, there are a couple people in the article who could... maybe... be categorized as fervent about the upcoming election. But for the most part, the tenor is more dispassionate than zealous.

In addition to McNally, who flat out admits his dissatisfaction with all of the candidates, Muehlig chats up local business owner Steve Mullen, who says: "he'll be glad when the election is over." Then there's Doug Boatfield of Le Roy, who says that he plans to vote for Sen. John McCain, but does not say why he likes McCain, but why he dislikes Sen. Barack Obama.

Then, at the very end of the article, in a brilliant move on the author's part, Muehlig writes:

Back at the City Centre, one man said he couldn't vote because he is a felon. Another said he's not voting and never has.

Why? "Laziness," he said.

And there it ends! I'll say it again, Muehlig's article is brilliant and totally misrepresented by the headline, which seems to give in fully to the national trend of playing up the election hype. A better editor would have recognized th gem Muehlig produced and given it a better designation, but that's neither here nor there, in the end.

Now, all analysis aside... what is the real issue here? There are certainly people out there who are very worked up about the election—and I sometimes count myself among their ranks, depending on my mood. Did Muehlig, then, just happen to run into the unenthusiastic? What have you seen? Are people fervent or are they dispassionate?

Obviously, there are both sides out there. But we would like to hear to which camp you belong, and why.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Carey L. Bristol, 35, of Rochester, was charged with second-degree harassment Thursday in Bergen, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Bristol is accused of taking a phone by force from her niece.

Cody T. Corke, 22, of 311 Washington Ave., Apt. 2, Batavia, was charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning, sheriff's deputies said. Corke was stopped on Colby Road in the town of Darien for a traffic violation. He was also ticketed with no front plate.

Evan P. Barone, 18, of Stafford, was charged with driving while intoxicated, unlawful possession of marijuana and possession of alcohol in a motor vehicle early Sunday morning, sheriff's deputies said. Barone was stopped on Park Road in the town of Batavia for a traffic violation. He was also ticketed with no front plate and failure to keep right.

Richard P. Lazik, 25, of 8905 Creek Road, Batavia, was charged with driving while intoxicated late Saturday night, sheriff's deputies said. Lazik was stopped on Route 33 in the town of Pembroke for a traffic violation. He was also ticketed with no front plate and failure to keep right.

Joseph A. Julvan, 44, of Oakfield, was charged with driving while intoxicated and aggravated DWI Saturday evening, sheriff's deputies said. Julvan was stopped by deputies on East Shelby Road in Oakfield after he had allegedly drove into another vehicle head on. He was also ticketed with moving from lane unsafely.

Lonnie Ford, 37, of 113 Jackson St., Apt. 3, Batavia, was charged with second-degree harassment and second-degree criminal trespass Saturday, city police said. Ford is accused of entering the apartment of a female acquaintance on Bank Street and refusing to leave. While he was there, Ford allegedly pushed the female to the ground. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $1,000 bail.

John P. Wittkopp, 25, of 107 Bank St., Ap. 1, Batavia, was charged with driving while intoxicated and aggravated DWI Sunday morning, city police said. Wittkopp allegedly drove into the rear of a vehicle stopped at a red light on East Main Street in Batavia.

Demetrius J. Spinks, 37, of Albion, was charged with second-degree criminal contempt Friday night, city police said. Spinks is accused of telephoning a female acquaintance whom he was barred from contacting by a court order of protection. That incident occurred on July 13. Spinks was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $2,000 bail.

State police issued a release on this Sunday's DWI saturation patrol following the Buffalo Bills home game. Four individuals were charged with driving while intoxicated. Another was picked up for unlawful possession of marijuana. Fifty-one other traffic citations were issued.

The Cross Country Programs at Notre Dame and Pembroke are celebrating as both will be representing Section V in the Boys New York State Cross Country Championships at Sunken Meadow State Park in Long Island. 

The Pembroke Team won a close one over Greece-Odyssey and Leroy, who tied for second in the Class C race.  Pembroke and Odyssey have been back and forth all year, but Pembroke got it done on Saturday.  Colin Bartholomew of Pembroke took second in the race with Matt Seward behind in 5th place.  Odyssey made a surge taking 7th, 9th 10th and 11th place, but Pembroke got their next three runners in, Kyle Maurer 13th, Adam Mahaney, 15th and Ethan Burns 16th to seal the win for Pembroke. 

In the Class D race, Notre Dame won its third consecutive sectional title, and outdistanced Oakfield by 15 points in the merged D/DD resutls to earn the school's first ever Boys Cross Country Team representation at the State Meet.  Freshman Quin O'Connor battled Kevin Grazioplene of Oakfield the whole way, finally breaking away with 1/2 mile to go in the race to break the tape in first.  Notre Dame put their top five in the top ten of the Class D race to easily win the Class D title.  Kevin Pawlak placed 5th, Eric Shormann 7th, Matt Jackson 8th, and Taylor Alexander 10th.

The Genesee-Livingston Cross Country League won ever class that it represented and has many representative moving on to the State Meet.  Here is a rundown:

Boys Team Championships:  Class B -- HFL,  Class C -- Pembroke,  Class CC -- Bath-Haverling,  Class D -- Notre Dame,  Class DD -- Oakfield

Girls Team Championships:  Class B -- HFL,  Class C -- Byron Bergen,  Class CC -- Attica,  Class D -- Geneseo,  Class DD -- Oakfield

Along with the Pembroke and Notre Dame Boys Teams qualifing for the state meet, HFL Boys and Girls Team also qualified.  Many league individuals also qulaified for the State Meet.  The boys that will be representing Section V and the GR/LC League are:  Frank Johnson of Letchworth Jake Krautwuist and Jack Bennett of Leroy, Cohen Miles Rath of Wayland-Cohocton, Kevin Grazioplene of Oakfield, Ben Strickland of Geneseo, Craig Cicero of Perry, Justin Richardson of Pavilion,

The girls that will be representing Section V and the GR/LC League are:  Kristina Martin of Holley,  McKenzie Bennett of Dansville, Katie Piechowiak of Attica, Abby Decker of Wayland-Cohocton, Kim Mills of Oakfield, and Liz Valento of Pavilion.