It's Election Day, New York, and there's simply no good reason not to vote. That goes for the big prize, even in a so-called "blue" state that President Obama is supposed to win handily. And certainly in congressional and state legislative elections, several of which appear to be exceptionally close, your vote will count.
The value of each and every vote will be underscored, from the tally in an apparently deadlocked presidential election, down to local races in which, if recent history is a reliable guide, the winner might not be known for days. Remember, that was the case in a state Senate primary election less than two months ago.
An ongoing civic conversation — about everything from war and peace, to taxes and budgets, to the divide between the rich and the poor, to the fate of the environment — reaches its conclusive chapter today. Don't be left out of it.
Here, then, are the Times Union's endorsements in some of the closely watched elections on local ballots:
PRESIDENT: Barack Obama
U.S. SENATE: Kirsten Gillibrand
CONGRESS
19th District: Chris Gibson
20th District: Paul Tonko
21st District: Bill Owens
STATE SENATE
43rd District: Robin Andrews
44th District: Neil Breslin
46th District: Cecilia Tkaczyk
49th District: Madelyn Thorne
STATE ASSEMBLY
107th District: Cheryl Roberts
109th District: Patricia Fahy
110th District: Phil Steck
111th District: Tom Quackenbush
112th District: Jim Tedisco
113th District: Tony Jordan
All our endorsement editorials can be found on The Observation Deck blog at http://blogs.timesunion.com/opinion