Tuesday is Primary Day in New York state, and locally, voters registered in political parties will have a chance to consider races in several contests including those for New York State Assembly and Senate, Monroe County Clerk, and the 27th Congressional District.
There is also a special election in that district, so if you live in the 27th, you actually would be voting twice if you are a Republican, once in the primary and then in the special election. Democrats who live in that district would just be voting in the special election.
It’s an unusual election year due to the coronavirus pandemic, since, even though polls are open for in-person voting, many more people than usual have cast absentee ballots.
Lisa Nicolay is Republican Elections Commissioner in Monroe County. She noted that for the first time in the state, voting for the primary elections will be the same as the general election, from 6am to 9pm. Previously, the primary voting used to start at noon.
“Which hopefully will allow folks to spread out throughout the day and not get congested for regular reasons and for the COVID. We’re trying to keep people spread out a little bit more. Probably (it will) be busiest first thing in the morning, lunchtime, and then on the way home from work. That’s when people typically stop and vote, but if you’re really trying to avoid the crowds, I would not go at one of those times,” Nicolay said.
Nicolay says most primary-eligible voters got postcards in the mail with their polling place. (and if you have the card, bring it with you to the polling place to help speed up the voting process). But if you didn’t, you can also get information at the Monroe County Board of Elections website about where you should vote.
Officials have also noted that with all of the absentee ballots this year, the results of the contests may not be known until early July, since the counting of the absentees cannot start until 7 days after the election.
WXXI News will have information about the machine voting and analysis starting at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday on AM 1370, 107.5 and wxxinews.org
