Bayville Village's mayoral race has no candidates

Wanted: A mayor for the Village of Bayville. Population: Nearly 7,000. 

For the first time, not a single candidate has filed to run for mayor of the North Shore village, according to Christopher Vivona, Bayville’s deputy village clerk-treasurer. The election is on June 16.

Vivona said the village has no record of an election where there was no candidate for mayor. The contest, on June 16, will be decided by write-in votes. The position is paid an annual $5,000 stipend.

The small village — about 1.5 square miles — is bordered by Centre Island to the east and Locust Valley to the west. The Bayville Bridge, built in 1938, links Bayville to Mill Neck, which is further south. Bayville was officially incorporated in 1919.

Notably, Mayor Steve Minicozzi, who was first elected in 2022, did not file petitions to run for a new term. He said he planned to spend more time with his family and was satisfied with his tenure. 

“I feel like I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish,” Minicozzi said in a phone interview.

Another empty race

Two current trustees — Anne Walsh Bleistein and Aimee DiBartolomeo — filed to run for reelection. A third trustee seat will be decided by write-in votes, Vivona said. Robert De Natale, the deputy mayor, is not seeking reelection.

One possible candidate for mayor is John Taylor, who ran against Minicozzi in 2022. In a social media post, Taylor said he didn’t run this year because he thought Minicozzi was running again. He would serve, he wrote, if he was elected as a write-in. 

“My reasons for running in 2022 remain the same. We must do everything we can to keep taxes as low as possible,” Taylor wrote, adding that he would work to protect Bayville from threats of overdevelopment.

Craig Burnett, professor and chair of the political science department at Florida Atlantic University, said it’s possible that candidates are becoming reluctant to run for office.

“When you look at the people who quit Congress, the No. 1 reason is they just don’t want to go through the slog of it all because petitioning takes work,” Burnett said in a phone interview. State law says a candidate must receive signatures from at least 5% of registered voters in a village to qualify for a spot on the ballot.

In Bayville's May newsletter, Minicozzi said he was not running for a new term. He outlined a series of projects completed during his tenure: The installation of new pickleball courts at West Harbor Beach, a makeover of village hall and other infrastructure improvements.

“I wish nothing but the best to our Village and my successor,” Minicozzi wrote in the newsletter.

Unusual circumstance

Christopher Malone, an associate provost at Farmingdale State College and a professor of political science, said it’s “very uncommon” for a key village race to lack candidates.

While a single election doesn’t spell a trend, he said the lack of interest could “speak to the reality that people are very turned off by politics.”

“If you start to see this across the towns and villages in Long Island or beyond, then it’s worrisome,” Malone said.

While he is not running an active campaign, Minicozzi said if he does receive the most write-in votes, “I would certainly fulfill my duties.”

Last year, the Village of Old Field's election was decided by write-in votes. A quirk in state election law, and a filing deadline interpretation, led to the mayor and a village justice failing to qualify for the ballot. The incumbent mayor ended up winning as a write-in, Newsday reported.

In the past, village races have featured fights to remove candidates from the ballot. Last year, a candidate who sought to challenge Centre Island's mayor sued the village and its then-mayor after he was kicked off the ballot. The lawsuit was unsuccessful. 

In March, the longtime mayor of Saddle Rock did not qualify for the ballot along with his running mates after the Nassau County Board of Elections invalidated their petitions. Their witnesses did not sign on six of eight signature pages, officials said.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ