Polls open at 282 sites across Monroe County on Tuesday, and Republican Monroe County Elections Commissioner Lisa Nicolay said this is the beginning of a long process.
She said she anticipates a long and busy day but expects lines to be minimal thanks to early voting, which more than 105, 000 residents took part in. Nicolay said her team expects to be counting votes past midnight, but their work will be far from done.
Earlier this year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered that all registered New York voters could vote by mail if they wish because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nicolay said they sent out 130,000 absentee ballots to Monroe County residents. They've received at least 95,000 back so far, and more are still coming in.
Nicolay said the board will not open those ballots until Nov. 16. She said the board has to tie up loose ends like making sure people who voted by mail didn’t also vote in person. In that case, the in-person vote would count, and the vote by mail would be discarded. Once they start counting, Nicolay expects a quick process.
"We have four or five sets of scanners, with sets of bipartisan teams that will supervise those ballots, and we let the machines do the work,” said Nicolay. “And that will probably take a few days without any major issues. We should be able to certify our election, our goal is to have everything wrapped up by Thanksgiving.”
This past June’s primary votes took a few weeks to tabulate.
