Early voting begins this Saturday for the June 24 primary in New York. In Onondaga County, five early voting sites will be open for a handful of races for Democrats, Republicans and Conservatives.
Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny says voters registered in political parties will choose a number of candidates for the general election during this primary season.
"We have Democrats inside the city of Syracuse as well as County Legislature 8, Republicans in Elbridge, Cicero, and Pompeii, and Conservatives in Elbridge that have primaries this year," said Czarny.
The most high-profile race is in the city of Syracuse, where three candidates are hoping to win the Democratic line for mayor on the November ballot. It’s an open seat this year, because of term limits for current Mayor Ben Walsh. Still, Czarny expects only about 8,000 voters out of the city’s 40,000 registered Democrats will come out and vote.
“Primaries are one of the lowest voter turnouts of any of our election cycles,” Czarny said. “And since only the Democrats are eligible to vote in the primary, that shuts down the number quite a bit.”
In Syracuse, the primary is likely to determine who the next mayor will be.
"The odds are whoever wins the primary is going to win the general election,” Czarny said. “And that's just a problem with urban landscapes right now, where the GOP has all but abandoned those races."
Democrats Pat Hogan, Sharon Owens and Chol Majok are on the Democratic ballot this year. Czarny notes that voters can cast a primary ballot at any of the five locations across the county.
Early voting starts Saturday and continues through June 22, ahead of the June 24 primary election. A mail in ballot is also an option for voters, but time is short for that, with a deadline of June 14 to apply.
See a list of early voting locations and hours in Onondaga County here.
