About a third of eligible voters in Onondaga County have already cast their ballots going into Election Day. More than 104,000 voters took advantage of mail-in ballots and nine days of early voting.
Despite the record 79,000 early voters and more than 25,000 returned ballots, Republican Elections Commissioner Michele Sardo says she still expect a busy Tuesday at the polls.
“It was a record total for early voting. Early voting in a presidential year is big," Sardo said. "The lines [Tuesday] would be even longer than they're going to be. It took some of that pain away from those inspectors that are going to be just there for hours."
But what happens to all the votes already submitted? Democratic Commissioner Dustin Czarny says mail-in ballots were scanned the day before early voting, and then again on Monday.
“Those results are segregated and isolated, and no one, not even I can see those results until 9:00 on Tuesday night," Czarny said. "So on 9:00 on Tuesday night, we will release the early voting results, which are stored on our machines, and then we also have the vote by mail results.”
Election night votes arriving from polling sites are added to the mix. At every step, Czarny says all physical ballots and digital data storage are protected under a bi-partisan lock and key.
“They're canvassed in a bipartisan manner. They're opened a bipartisan manner. They're tabulated in a bipartisan manner," Czarny said. "Everything is locked and sealed behind double locks; one Democratic key, one Republican key to make sure that no one can go in and tamper. And of course, we have a pretty good security system here. Cameras are on everything and every door.”
As the polls open for a final time on Tuesday, GOP Commissioner Sardo asks voters to do their homework online before calling.
“Some people struggle to get through because the lines are busy, but please utilize our website," Sardo said they'll be able to tell you where you're going to vote and we have a sample ballot on there.”
She reminds citizens to be patient. Tens of thousands of voters haven’t voted since the last presidential election, and polling sites may have changed.
Polls are open Tuesday from 6 am to 9 pm. Find more information here.
Mail-in ballots must be postmarked no later than Tuesday, Nov. 5 and arrive by Nov. 13 to be counted.
