By Zach Simeone

HILLTOWNS — On Sept. 15, voters will decide which Hilltown candidates get to run on third-party lines in the fall elections.

These lines are important, said Chairman Paul Caputo of the Albany County Independence Party, “because they add a voice.”

“Let’s say you like a candidate that’s registered in the opposite party as you, but you can’t find it in yourself to vote for the person on that other line,” Caputo said. “What minor parties do is give you an added voice that says, ‘Listen, although I’m voting for you, I’m not voting on a major-party line, because I’m sending a message that you can’t take my vote for granted.’”

Many people, Caputo said, think that voting for someone on a third-party line is a wasted vote.

“A wasted vote is a vote that’s made without using your head and without using your heart,” he said.

In the Independence and Conservative primaries in Knox, Democratic Judge Jean Gagnon will be up against Republican Bonnie Donati. Incumbent Clerk Kimberly Swain, a Republican, is the designee for both the Independence and Conservative lines, although there is an opportunity to ballot if party members decide to petition for another candidate.

In the race for highway superintendent in Rensselaerville, incumbent G. Jon Chase is the designee for the Independence line. Gary Zeh is the designee for the Republican line, and there will be opportunities to ballot in both cases.

For the two open seats on the Rensselaerville Town Board, the town’s Democratic chairman, John Kudlack, and Conservative budget committee member Marion Cooke are designees for the Independence line, with opportunity to ballot in the races for both seats.

No candidates from Berne or Westerlo are in a primary.