board of supervisors

The driving political force within the Schoharie County government is its Board of Supervisors, which is made up of sixteen supervisors who are elected in their respective towns. Each supervisor has a "weighted vote" on the Board based on the population they represent, a system devised to give more power to supervisors who represent more populous towns. Supervisors serve a dual function within our county, as they are both the chief executive and legislator in their towns. They make county-wide decisions on the Board of Supervisors, similar to legislators, though they do not not represent districts of equal population. 

As initially conceived, the Board of Supervisors system mimics the composition of our national Senate: equally empowered representatives elected from specific locales of varying size. However, this system was ruled unconstitutional in Reynolds V. Sims for State and County legislatures, because densely populated districts were being disenfranchised to the benefit of sparsely populated districts, which is how the weighted vote was introduced. 

Each Supervisor casts a weighted vote that reflects the percentage of their town’s population in the county, meaning the Blenheim supervisor's vote casts 33 votes while the Cobleskill supervisor's vote casts 481 votes. The weighted vote component of this system has given supervisors of larger municipalities more power at the expense of smaller municipalities. 

county officials

In addition to the Board of Supervisors, there are nine countywide elected officials in Schoharie County: (1) Treasurer, (1) Sheriff, (1) Judge, (1) District Attorney, (4) Coroners, (1) Clerk. Each of these officials possess powers and responsibilities that are legally separate from the Board of Supervisors, while other county officials - agency and department heads, specifically - are hired by and answer to the Board of Supervisors in their quasi-executive role.  

Although Schoharie County does not formally have an executive branch of county government, the Board of Supervisors did establish the position of County Administrator in 2015 to oversee daily governance and produce an annual budget proposal. The Board of Supervisors also elects a chairman from among its membership to lead the  Board and act as an executive during times of emergency, such as natural disasters or pandemics.  

towns & villages

There are sixteen towns and six villages in Schoharie County. Villages are unique within the county in that they are non-partisan entities, in which candidates for mayor or trustee either run as independents or form their own local parties. In the Village of Middleburgh, for example, there are elected officials from both the “Middleburgh First Party,” and the “Bull Moose Party,” while the Town of Middleburgh representatives  are elected using primarily traditional political parties.  

Whereas non-partisan candidates in Villages petition to directly be on the ballot, Democratic or Republican candidates in Towns attend Caucuses to select their candidates. Caucuses are essentially Party-run events where candidates are nominated and selected by present Party members. Primaries in Schoharie County happen, but they are exceedingly rare in that they require an individual to go against their Party’s nomination.