Early Voting is a Win for Onondaga County Early Voting is a Win for Onondaga County

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Lawrence Williams remembers playing at the Southwest Community Center in Syracuse.

“One of those kids you see running back  and forth,” Williams said, while pointing out several children at the center. “I was one of those kids at one time. I was a teenager, but I was one of those kids.”

Now, Williams is giving back as the CEO of Syracuse Community Connections, a non-profit organization that helps people in the South side of Syracuse.

This year, the Southwest Center will be one of six locations where people can vote early in Onondaga County. This is the first time Onondaga County has offered early voting, and Williams sees this as a great opportunity for the community to grow.

“It’s not only providing an opportunity for those who are registered to vote,” Williams said. “But also set up a mechanism while this is going on, ideally we want to have voting registration at the same time.”

Dustin Czarny, the Democratic Onondaga County Elections Commissioner, has been working to provide this service for a long time.

“I’ve been an activist for 15 years pushing for early voting even before I became a commissioner,” Czarny said.

Czarny has been working hard this year to get the polling stations ready for early voting. While he is not completely sure what the turnout will be, Czarny believes that soon people will come around to voting early.

“I’m hopeful that once people get used to this option in New York, early voting will be useful here as well,” Czarny said.

Williams believes that hosting early voting specifically at the Southwest Center is crucial. He estimates that 10,000 people use the center each year. It is a major location for impoverished people living on the south side of Syracuse.

“It becomes the epicenter,” Williams said. “So we have to consistently be cognicent to what’s going out there. So, whatever’s good for any other community is good for this community.”

For  more information about early voting and Syracuse Community Connections:

http://www.smnfswcc.org/contact.aspx

http://www.ongov.net/elections/early-voting.html

Reported by
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Patrick Gunn

Patrick Gunn is an Associate Producer for Citrus TV's live post game show, Orange Press Pass. Patrick is also the Film Beat Reporter for Citrus TV's entertainment news show, Unpeeled. Patrick is a writer for Pulp, a section of the Daily Orange, and Start Spreading the News, an independent blog about the New York Yankees.

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