Primary elections will be held Tuesday in New York state.
Voters registered with various political parties in the city of Rochester, Monroe County, and 11 area towns will be casting ballots in a number of races.
Local primary elections used to be held in September, but election reform legislation that was enacted in New York state this year has moved the date up to June.
Monroe County elections commissioner Tom Ferrarese is hoping media coverage of the various races -- especially in the city of Rochester, where the debate continues over the future of the school board -- will remind people that the election is Tuesday.
But Ferrarese isn't expecting a huge voter turnout.
"We're thinking somewhere in this primary between 15 to 18 percent," he predicted.
Registered Democrats in the city of Rochester will be voting in elections for City Council, Board of Education, and City Court judge. (Follow this linkfor a list of primary elections in Monroe County)
Professor Timothy Kneeland, chair of the political science department at Nazareth College, noted that the city primaries are like a de facto general election, because many candidates won't have opponents on the November ballot.
"And, in fact," he said, "some of the candidates for the school board are saying, 'I don't think we need to wait until November,' because essentially once they secure the primary, they're not facing opposition, so they'd like to get going right away, but I think they need to wait for the actual election."
Independence Party voters will decide whether Republican incumbent Cheryl Dinolfo's or Democrat Adam Bello's name will appear on their party's line in the November election for Monroe County executive.
Monroe County Legislature primaries will be decided by voters enrolled in the Democratic, Independence, and Working Families parties. Republican, Democratic, and Independence Party voters will cast ballots in various town supervisor, town clerk, and town council races across the county from Hamlin to Webster.
Most voters will be voting at their usual polling places. Ferrarese said eight polling sites were moved.
"We've notified the voters by mail ... hopefully they've opened that up," he said. "We're going to have signage at the old polling site, telling them where the new site is."
Anyone with questions can call the Board of Elections at (585) 753-1550. Voters can also check their ballot and polling location on thewebsite.
Polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday. WXXI News will have live coverage of the election returns starting at 9 p.m. on AM 1370, FM 107.5, and look for streaming video of our coverage on Facebook. Follow both our Facebook and Twitter feeds for more information as well as wxxinews.org.
