Early voting has come to an end in New York, and most counties are reporting record numbers of voters. Onondaga County smashed the record for early voting this year. After all the ballots were counted during the nine-day early voting period, Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said 79,650 people cast their ballot early, compared to about 60,000 in 2020. Add to this number the nearly 26,000 mail-in ballots, and Czarny said it could amount to almost half of all ballots cast in this year's election.
“If we expect about 76% turnout, this 103,000 could be around 45% of the overall vote total,” Czarny said.
The numbers were similar across central New York. Madison, Oneida, Oswego, Cayuga and Tompkins counties all reported record numbers for early voting this year.
More Democrats voted early than Republicans in Onondaga County, and more women than men. However, in Oneida County, where more than 27,000 votes were cast, more Republicans voted early than Democrats.
In Onondaga County, one very popular addition to early voting this year was the county’s online wait tool, which showed estimated wait times at each of the county’s 10 early voting locations.
“We've heard from people who said that they were going to North Syracuse because they saw that Clay had a 20-minute wait, and North Syracuse had five,” Czarny said. “So, we know people use it. It was one of the most popular pages in the county website for the entire month of October.”
Polls are open on Election Day from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
