Next week will see something rare in Williamsville: a contested election.
In a village where candidates typically run unopposed for mayor or trustee, Tuesday's special election for a Village Board seat has three declared candidates.
And this in a race just for the nine months remaining in Trustee John Murphy's term.
"It's extremely unusual," Village Administrator Judith A. Kindron said.
But only one candidate's name appears on the ballot after Murphy filed a petition that didn't have enough valid signatures to qualify.
Murphy now is running as a write-in candidate, as is another village resident, Daniel Rider. Only Eileen A. Torre filed a petition with sufficient signatures.
The election takes place from noon to 9 p.m. at Village Hall, 5565 Main St. The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail has passed, but voters still may request one in person at Village Hall. Absentee ballots must be received by 9 p.m. Tuesday in order to be counted.
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Williamsville is holding the special Village Board election to fill the rest of Murphy’s term, which runs through June 30, 2021.
Murphy was appointed in July 2019 to the Village Board seat held by Deborah Rogers following her election as Williamsville’s mayor.
Because of the timing of his appointment, Murphy didn’t have to run in a special election until June 16 of this year.
However, that election was postponed by the Covid-19 pandemic and rescheduled for Tuesday.
Murphy filed a petition with nearly 100 signatures collected during the month of July, but a technical problem with how witnesses certified their accuracy left all but 18 of the signatures invalidated by the Erie County Board of Elections, Kindron said. That's well short of the 70 required to get on the ballot.
Murphy, a business risk analyst with M&T Bank, is a member of the ruling Harmony Party in the village.
He is the Village Board's liaison to the village's Traffic and Safety and Youth and Recreation committees. Rider is a member of the Traffic and Safety Committee.
Torre is a member of the newly formed Community First Party. She co-founded Williamsville's celebration of Earth Day, served for many years on the village's Environmental Committee and helped gain support for the creation of Amherst State Park.
The village of just over 5,000 residents isn't used to head-to-head political battles, at least in recent years. But, Kindron noted, this is 2020.
"Nothing's normal this year," she said.
