The numbers from early voting are in and, as expected, it was a lackluster turnout over the nine-day early voting period.
New York state as a whole had only 3% of registered voters turn out. That includes New York City, where just 1.5% of the population voted. If you take away the city, upstate had about a 4% turnout.
What You Need To Know
- Early voting in New York state is just like voting on Election Day
- Early voters scan their completed ballot just after privately marking it
- Early voting results are counted, tabulated and included in the election night (unofficial results) totals
Of the 62 counties, the Hudson Valley had the most robust numbers in the state: Dutchess and Columbia counties, both topping 6 and 7%, respectively. Albany and Erie counties had over 5% turnout. Monroe and Onondaga counties had around 4%. The lowest early voter turnout in the state was in Genesee County.
St. John Fisher University political science professor Ricky Price says it's disheartening to see so few people engage in this off-year election because the ballot is important at the local level. He says the more opportunities people are given to vote safely, securely and fairly, the more democratic the outcome will be.
"The off-off years, at least in my opinion, are more powerful in some ways as a voter than the large election, where you get 60 percent turnout or something like that," Price said. "It’s super important because there’s so many local officials that really affect what you can do on an everyday basis and what your local community looks like; and when does your trash get picked up; how many police are on the street. All of [those] are local decisions."
Local elections are a great opportunity for newcomers to enter the political scene.
Price encourages young voters to be poll workers to learn about these civil servants, poll watching and the election process.
"The problem with low turnout is that it breeds low trust of the election results because if not a lot of people are voting it is kind of abstract to folks," Price added. "The off-year elections are interesting because there is both opportunities to not have to fight through all of the people competing with national or statewide events and really being able to focus on changing your local community, but at the same time, we get such smaller voter turnout."