Day 2 of early voting draws more long lines at Westchester polling sites

Long lines at polling places continued on Day 2 of early voting in New York.

News 12 Staff

Oct 25, 2020, 8:39 PM

Updated 1,510 days ago

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Long lines at polling places continued on Day 2 of early voting in New York.
Voter Kirsti Pisso made sure she was outside the Westchester County Board of Elections no later than 8 a.m. Sunday. She was born in Australia and became a U.S. citizen two years ago.
"I just want to know that my very first vote as a U.S. citizen - particularly this election - is going to be received and counted. So I'm not taking any chances," she says.
Pisso was not the only one who got there bright and early.
Many voters made the decision to come early after seeing the lines on Saturday, with people waiting hours for their turn.
In Somers, voters lined up before polls opened at 12 p.m. Voters lined up from Town Hall, through the parking lot and all the way down the street. Some just stood in line, while other voters pulled out chairs while they waited for their opportunity to make their voices heard during the election.
There was a similar scene over in Fishkill. Voters there waited on a massive line at the Fishkill Town Hall that stretched from the building all the way across the parking lot. The line formed before the polls opened at 12 p.m.
The Westchester County Board of Elections says the reason the lines are so long is because there are only 17 sites open for early voting - and each one only has two machines.
"And once you use a machine in early voting, you can't use that machine again until after the general election," says Reginald A. LaFayette, the Democratic commissioner of Westchester County Board of Elections.
Those pairs of machines are also the only ones​ equipped to take votes from all​ Westchester voters no matter their address.
Despite the wait times, voters say they are hanging in there.
"Today I'm voting for integrity, and decency, and democracy, and all the amazing values that this country was founded on," says Pisso.
There are seven more days for Westchester voters to cast their ballots at any one of the 17 voting locations countywide.