Early voting continues to draw long lines around the area. It began in New York state on Saturday, and over the weekend, nearly 31,000 people turned out to vote in Monroe County, compared to about 18,000 for the first two days of early voting in 2020, the last time there was a presidential election.
More than 16,000 county residents went to early voting sites on Monday.
Jackie Ortiz is the Democratic Elections Commissioner in Monroe County, and noted that early voting had still been quite new during the 2020 election.
“I do also think that early voting is extremely convenient, and people are finally getting the hang of it, if you will,” said Ortiz. “It began in 2019 and so we had it available to everyone in 2020 and now again, in 2024.”
And Ortiz noted this year’s presidential election is also getting a lot of attention, which may be boosting the early turnout numbers as well. And there were more early voting sites this year than there were in 2020.
The Monroe County Board of Elections also wants to make sure that if you got one of those postcards that went out recently, you should note that the polling site listed at the top of the card is your specific polling place for Election Day, Tuesday, November 5.
There are also 17 early voting sites that you can find by using the QR code on the postcard, or by going online to the Monroe County Board of Elections website.
You can also find those early voting sites and other information in this WXXI news story.
Ortiz said the Board of Elections has heard concerns from some voters who were confused about the information on the postcards, and she said they will make it more clear the next time they send out this type of information.
Early voting runs through Sunday, Nov. 3.
