The Monroe County Board of Elections staffers are opening and tallying about 80,000 primary ballots.
What You Need To Know
- Monroe County Board of Elections staffers are opening and tallying about 80,000 primary ballots
- Election law requires the counting to be completed 13 days after the primary, which falls on July 6
- Election law allows a candidate to be on-site and oversee the process
The unprecedented undertaking was made even more difficult as day one of processing on July 1 required more COVID-19 social distancing and a reduction of 10 to 15 employees.
"With the reductions, we're definitely gonna see some additional days where we're going to have to count where we didn't anticipate it," says acting Democratic BOE Commissioner Lashana Boose.
Election law requires the counting to be completed 13 days after the primary, which falls on July 6. Boose says she is communicating with other counties and looking into the feasibility of filing an extension.
She says, "With this executive order there's no way that boards are going to be able to meet those deadlines." Boose says that includes Monroe County and says, "We will not be done by Monday."
No results will be released before all of the ballots are counted.
For now, the process moves forward with about 20 staffers. Election law allows a candidate to be on-site and oversee the process along with three representatives from that campaign.
Republican BOE Commissioner Lisa Nicolay explains, "They are free to mill about, we are very open and transparent. So you'll see them walking around. If they're not holding ballots, then that's probably who they are because only our staff are allowed to touch the ballots and process the ballots."
Several people exercised this right, including Monroe County Clerk Jamie Romeo, who is in a tight race in her attempt to keep that seat.
"So we're just here to oversee the process, observe the process," says Romeo.
137th Assembly District candidate Demond Meeks stood by to keep watch on the process, saying, "I don’t think that as a community we can run the risk of people not trusting the integrity of the voting process. There's absolutely too much at stake."
Meeks says he feels more comfortable being a part of the process. "It's our right, right? So we have a right to be present and we choose to do so."