Tuesday is Primary Day in New York. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. This year’s primary falls on a day when temperatures are expected to reach the low 90s across much of central and northern New York.
Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said he doesn’t remember voters venturing to polling places under such hot and humid conditions. But they’ve been preparing by making sure all polling places are cool with extra fans on hand in case air conditioning goes haywire.
“It's a smaller primary,” said Czarny. “Most of our buildings that we're in are churches and schools that are already equipped for this.”
Despite the heat, Czarny thinks people will still come out to cast their ballot.
"I do think that, you know, it is a primary,” he said. “So the people that are coming out to vote are usually the more motivated people anyways. You know, they're the more prime voters that were already planning on coming out to vote. It's not the voters who don't always vote in elections. So I think it'll have less of an effect than if it wasn't a general election.”
The early vote in this year’s primary in Onondaga County also increased from the last two even-year primary elections. 1,644 people cast ballots over the early voting period this year. Most of those votes were from the city of Syracuse, where three candidates are vying for the Democratic line on the November ballot for mayor.
Voters must be registered with a political party in order to vote in Tuesday's primary. Find your polling place here.
