SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Onondaga County has reached record early voter turnout with the upcoming election less than a week away.
Last year, early voting was introduced to New York State, with 8,473 votes cast nine days before Election Day. That number was amassed in two days by people in Onondaga County this year and has skyrocketed since reaching that mark. The total heading into Thursday: 31,273 votes.
“It’s great for democracy,” Democratic Commissioner of the Onondaga County Board of Elections Dustin Czarny said. “All these people going to these six different sites has been overwhelming [though].”
Czarny said lines are longer than preferred, and the turnout has forced the board to extend hours at polling sites this weekend. Although a lot to deal with, the influx of people at polls is not surprising.
“I think 2020 has been a year that has been set on people’s agendas for quite some time,” Czarny said. “So, we’ve seen a lot of anticipation.”
Even amid this expectation, Czarny does think there are factors encouraging people to vote in person besides the polls’ availability.
“We do see that the fervor over the post office has brought people that normally would have voted by mail deciding to vote early or people who were going to vote on Election Day deciding to vote early to get their vote counted and have it be reported on election night,” said Czarny.
The fervor is in regard to the recent overflow to the post office, limiting its ability to deliver mail in a timely manner. This directly correlates to a major concern that ballots are going missing and getting delayed within the cluster of mail.
“There are forces that threaten [people’s] vote in an important year,” Czarny said. “I think people look to the opportunities they can to make sure their vote is counted, and early voting has become a focal point for many campaigns.”
Czarny does not think this rise in early voters is limited to Onondaga County or New York either. He said this is the reality faced by polls spread throughout every state in the union.
Early voting started last Saturday, Oct. 24, and is scheduled to run through Sunday, Nov. 1. Daily times are listed online at six polling sites all around Onondaga County.
