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After scathing letter from state officials, Onondaga County resolves backlog of voter registrations

Ava Pukatch
/
WRVO

Onondaga County has caught up with a backlog of voter registrations and mail-in voting applications that at one point numbered over 23,000.

After the state Board of Elections sent a scathing letter to the county which shined a spotlight on the issue, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said the focus now is making sure the rest of the election season goes smoothly.

“Now that we are caught up related to that backlog, we'll make sure with more help that we don't get behind on anything else,” McMahon said Thursday during a news conference. “And we're absolutely going to make sure that that's the case.”

McMahon said Thursday he doesn’t want his county making national news because of mess-ups by the Board of Elections.

“On Monday, we're sending over six full-time employees from other departments to make sure that the absentee ballots are being processed,” he said. “And if the Board of Elections gets inundated with something else, and they need six more, I'll give them six more."

Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon speaks at a news conference in Syracuse on Thursday, October 10, 2024
Ellen Abbott
/
WRVO
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon speaks at a news conference in Syracuse on Thursday, October 10, 2024

McMahon said he found out Monday about the letter to Onondaga County’s two election commissioners, calling the backlog “deeply troubling.” It said mismanagement, miscommunication and a lack of urgency by workers plowing through registrations and applications led to thousands of unprocessed documents. Extra county employees as well as nine state workers were dispatched this week to get the paperwork back up under control.

McMahon said once this election season is over, it might be time for some soul-searching about the roles of the Legislature-appointed elections commissioners, which he says have recently become more political than administrative.

"These are important jobs,” he said. “This should be a wake-up call. Whether or not the legislature is going to agree to re-nominate the two individuals or the parties want them to be nominated, that's going to be their process. But I think overall, we need to get back to basics over there."

Both Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny and Republican Commissioner Michele Sardo went before county lawmakers in September to ask for more help in processing a growing backlog of voter registrations. They asked lawmakers for an increase in funding to cover the hiring of six additional workers. Lawmakers approved enough funding for four workers.

Czarny has said the Onondaga County Board of Elections is the least staffed in New York, per person. He said the average county Board of Elections has one staff member per 8,000 – 10,000 voters, while Onondaga County has one worker for every 14,000 voters.

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.