Michele Sardo

Republican Onondaga County legislators declined to reappoint Michele Sardo for a fifth term as GOP commissioner amid state criticism before the election. Democrats decided to keep Dustin Czarny.

Early voting sets a record with 79,000 ballots cast over nine days. More than 25,000 have mailed-in their ballots.

Voters can stop at any of 10 locations to cast their ballots through Sunday.

Oct. 26 is the last day to register to vote and to apply for an absentee or early mail-in ballot.

County elections commissioners first told WAER News they faced a 20,000 voter backlog in late September, apparently sounding alarm bells for state officials.

The commissioners presented a bi-partisan budget plan to add six workers to handle the growing volume of work.

The state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld the state's law allowing ballots to be cast by mail.

On Tuesday, Onondaga County Democrats are choosing who will advance to the November election in NY-22 and in senate district 50; Republicans are deciding on their favorite in senate district 48.

Less than 1,000 of nearly 198,000 enrolled Democrat and Republican voters have cast ballots during early voting for the presidential primaries.

Democratic challenger Emily Essi expanded her lead to more than 300 votes after all absentees were counted, but it still falls within range for a hand recount.