ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. (NCC News) – The presidential election is less than two weeks away, and many more Central New York residents are taking part in it than ever before.
Over 308,000 people have registered to vote in Onondaga County, which is most the county has ever seen.
An Onondaga County resident, Mary Ann Durantini, believes more citizens are registered to vote for this election because of high poll numbers that suggested Hillary Clinton was going to win in 2016. These polls were ultimately wrong since Donald Trump did in fact win the election.
“I think people are realizing that complicity and assuming that one candidate was going to win over the other the last time has woken people up to the fact that you can’t make assumptions like that,” Durantini said.
More residents taking part in the election means their voices can be better heard and represent the Onondaga county population more accurately.
For residents who are unable to vote in-person or nervous to do so because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Cuomo put into effect a law that allows voters to request absentee ballots because of coronavirus concerns this year.
“My parents are elderly. … I’m not sure what they are going to do, but I imagine a lot more people will be [voting by mail] because of coronavirus concerns,” Durantini said.
People have been urged to mail or drop off their ballot in by Oct. 20th to make sure their vote will get counted properly. Durantini offered some advice for absentee ballot voters.
“Don’t wait till the last minute, because then if the postal service gets overwhelmed or something goes wrong, then your votes already in and tallied,” she said.
She plans to vote early to make sure her vote gets counted. In Central New York, in-person early voting begins this Saturday, Oct. 24th. Residents can check which local polling site they can go to.
The Onondaga County Board of Elections is at 1000 Erie Blvd. West, Syracuse. The phone number is (315)-435-8683.
