5 things to know on Election Day in Westchester, Putnam

Five things to know about heading to the polls Tuesday:

1. More than 60 contested elections in Westchester and Putnam counties will be decided Tuesday. In Westchester, the power structure of the county Legislature is up for grabs as are the top seats in communities including Yonkers, Mount Vernon and Peekskill. Putnam voters will decide the next district attorney in a high-profile, big-money race. Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. To find more about polling locations, visit the Westchester County Board of Elections at citizenparticipation.westchestergov.com or the Putnam County Board of Elections at putnamboe.com.

2. A bipartisan coalition that controls the Westchester County Board of Legislators with a 9-8 majority could be toppled by even a one-seat shift as all 17 legislators face re-election. Nine seats are contested, and of those, all but two have an incumbent running. Other local races include the Yonkers mayoral battle between incumbent Democrat Mike Spano and Republican Bill Nuckel and the ones in towns like Ossining, where Republican John Perillo and Dana Levenberg, who's running as a Democrat, are looking to become town supervisor.

List:Our Westchester-Putnam campaign coverage - news articles, reader letters

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3. It's Round 2 in the headline-grabbing Putnam district attorney race between incumbent Adam Levy and Putnam Valley town Supervisor Bob Tendy. The two Republicans duked it out in a September primary for the seat with Tendy emerging as the victor. But Levy decided to continue to seek re-election on the Conservative and Independence party lines. Tendy has taken aim at Levy’s management of the office and ongoing feud with county Sheriff Don Smith, while the incumbent and son of TV’s Judge Judy Sheindlin has pumped a half a million dollars into the campaign.

4. In an odd-year election without a presidential or gubernatorial race to top the ticket, voter turnout is expected to be low. In Westchester, registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of 2 to 1. “A higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats tend to vote in off-year elections so that kind of levels the playing field,” said Doug Colety, chairman of the county GOP. Democratic Party Chairman Reggie LaFayette said although low turnout is expected in off years, he didn't feel it put his party at a disadvantage. "There’s always concern because there’s never big names at the head of the ticket ... unless in that municipality you have a strong mayor that’s being challenged," he said.

5. A proposition on the Westchester ballot asks voters to push up the deadline for when the county budget is due to lawmakers. Legislators say pushing the date from Nov. 15 to Nov. 10 for the operating budget and from Nov. 15 to Oct. 15 for the capital budget would give them more time to discuss and debate items in the spending plans. A local proposition in Bedford requests guidelines over filling vacancies in elected office. A proposition in Peekskill asks for a $38,000 increase in the Field Library budget. There are no ballot propositions in Putnam.

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WHOM TO CALL

To report ballot access issues or barriers at polling sites, contact the New York Attorney General's Election Day Hotline at 1-800-771-7755 or civil.rights@ag.ny.gov.

The number for the Putnam County Board of Elections is 845-808-1300. Call Westchester County's board at 914-995-5700.