Chancellor Cantor Absent on Election Day

Elections Inspector Susan Greenman sat in her chair at Bird Library on Waverly Avenue at six this morning, waiting for the first voter. "We're open for business," she said. " I predict a few hundred voters at this location." One of the first usually is Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor. "Quarter after six we should be seeing Nancy," Greenman said. But the Box O'Joe cooled on the refreshment table for half an hour longer before the first voter showed up. It was not Cantor, but Ted Huber of the Westcott area.

Huber was the first voter for the Bird Library polling location on the SU campus. The vote for mayor was the largest issue that drew him to vote early this morning, he said. "I’m a Democrat but I crossed party lines,” Huber said after voting for Otis Jennings. “I wasn't happy with the [Stephanie Miner]." Huber, a veteran, votes in all elections, he said.

Election Inspector Greenman retracted her turnout prediction this morning, as the morning turnout was slower than she had expected. As of seven in the morning, only one other voter had cast his vote in Bird Library with Huber. They had come to vote together. "There probably won't be a lot in this location," Greenman said. "Not for a mayor election. The bigger the election, the bigger the turnout, especially students.”

Chancellor Cantor never did show up. Her office said Cantor was chairing a conference at Howard University and had voted absentee. Most of the other registered voters were just absent for this election.