SARANAC LAKE — The first of two caucuses for village office is being held tonight.

Registered Democrats living in the village will be able to vote on who will represent their party on the ballot at 5:30 p.m. at the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium.

“A party caucus … you should think of it in terms of a primary election,” Harrietstown Democratic Party Chair and town Supervisor Jordanna Mallach said.

Currently, there are five candidates in the race for two open seats on the Saranac Lake Village Board of Trustees and all are seeking the Democratic line.

Paul Van Cott, Aurora White, Fred Balzac, Katie Stiles and Sean Ryan have voiced intent to seek the Democratic nomination.

Van Cott, Balzac and White are registered Democrats. Stiles and Ryan are registered independently and not affiliated with a party. Both of them have also indicated they will seek the Republican Party’s nomination as well. Balzac has also filed paperwork to run on the Working Families party line.

After initially planning to run, incumbent Rich Shapiro announced Sunday that he is no longer running. Trustee Tom Catillaz is also not seeking re-election.

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The caucus process

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Mallach said before the caucus begins, voters will be verified as being able to vote by being checked against a list from the board of elections.

To see if you live in the village and can participate, check the village’s zoning map at tinyurl.com/5dzmhhk3.

Non-Democrats and non-village residents are allowed to attend, but will not be able to vote and will be sat in a different section than those participating in the caucus.

After the caucus begins, the floor will open for nominations. Village Democrats will then voice nominations for the seat. All nominations need to be seconded.

When the slate of candidates is set, each candidate will be given two minutes to address the crowd, Mallach said. After their speeches, people will be able to vote for up to two candidates. This will be done by paper ballot.

Only two of the five candidates will be given a position on the Democratic line on the March 19 ballot.

If people are not nominated to represent the Democratic Party in the election they can still file to run as an independent candidate by Feb. 13, or participate in the Republican caucus on Jan. 29.

The Republican caucus is scheduled for Jan. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium with Harrietstown Republican Party Chair Bob Bevilacqua presiding.

In New York, anyone who participates in a caucus for a village office cannot also sign an independent nominating petition. Voters signing petitions for independent candidates may only sign a petition for one candidate. If they sign a second petition for another candidate it will be invalidated.