According to officials at the Westchester County Board of Elections, more than half the amount of people who voted in the 2016 presidential election have already cast their ballots.
They say 249,000 people voted early or via absentee ballot
in Westchester.
The New York State Board of Elections says over 33,000
people in Dutchess County, and almost 43,000 in
Orange County voted early. More than 10,000 in Putnam County,
and nearly 29,000 people in Ulster County voted early.
Rockland County Board of Elections officials say they've
received four times as many mail-in ballots than they did in 2016, requiring an
entire room to store them all. They say only a few people have keys to the
room.
"A Democratic lock and a Republican lock and if there
is a court case and ballots are impounded, this third lock is the sheriff's
lock," said Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky, the Rockland County Board of
Education commissioner.
As tensions build ahead of Election Day, Westchester County
Executive George Latimer says county police will be deployed to a number of
locations Tuesday night and will provide backup to local police. He says there
will also be heightened security to protect absentee ballots. "We intend
to have sufficient security and we have a number of Board of Election sites
where machines will be stored and we believe we're going to be able to secure
those machines properly," says Latimer.
The polls close at 9 p.m. Tuesday. Mail-in ballots must be
postmarked by Nov. 3 and must be received by Nov. 10.
Officials say if you have not sent in your mail-in ballot
yet, either drop it off in person or vote in person.
News 12
is bringing you in-depth Election Day coverage. When the polls close at 9 p.m.,
our Vote 2020 team of anchors and reporters will be providing live national and
hyperlocal race results and analysis all night long. Plus, News 12’s
Samantha Crawford will be hosting a live town hall with voters on Facebook
Live, discussing the issues that matter most to you, starting at 9 p.m.