New York's pandemic primary finished its first phase when early voting wrapped up at 4 p.m. on Sunday. While you can still mail your absentee ballot on Tuesday (ideally from a post office to ensure you make the June 23rd postmark deadline), you could also choose to vote in person at your designated poll site starting at 6 a.m. Tuesday. Find your poll site here.
Here’s a roundup of your questions for Primary Day and beyond.
What do we know about the turnout for early voting so far?
In this election, with the Democratic presidential primary and some competitive congressional, state and local contests, just over 52,250 people voted early, which is down about 8,000 voters from the 2019 general election. Now, last fall's general election was open to all registered voters, whereas this is a primary, which is largely for registered Democrats (although there are a handful of Republican primaries, too). And, the pandemic. So it’s not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison.
How are things going with the absentee ballot option?
As of last Wednesday, 708,421 people applied for an absentee ballot and the Board mailed 679,245 ballots. Based on those numbers, nearly 30,000 people were still waiting for their ballot application to be processed. (NOTE: This is the same data we published last week because the BOE has not provided an update, despite multiple requests.) While many voters have reached out to the New York City Board of Elections directly, the response is not always satisfying.
Update: They replied on Twitter after I sent this tweet. @BOENYC says my ballot was sent for printing and still needs to be postmarked by tomorrow, and if I have questions, call a hotline. I'm currently 78th in the queue, wish me luck!
— Jessica Miller (@TimestepJess) June 22, 2020
However, even if the BOE provided the most current data, we would not be able to say how many of those ballots have been mailed back or how many will actually count. The BOE does not begin to even evaluate whether these ballots are valid until a week after the primary. The votes that are counted first are the ones cast in person, on machines.
As a bit of a cautionary tale, here is another data point about absentee ballots from the 2016 presidential primary, “Four years ago for this same election, we processed about 65-thousand absentee ballot applications,” New York City BOE Executive Director Michael Ryans said at their virtual commissioners meeting last Tuesday. But out of those 65,000 processed absentee ballot applications in 2016, the BOE only counted 23,274 absentee votes.
That means, about 65 percent of those absentee ballots, more than 40,000 votes did not count.
Yikes, why would so many not count?
Not everyone who applies for a ballot actually mails it. If you decide to vote in person, even if you have already mailed an absentee ballot, that absentee ballot will be invalidated...because obviously, you can't vote twice.
Gothamist/WNYC asked the BOE for additional data to be able to explain precisely how many absentee ballots were returned in 2016 and out of that, how many were invalidated, but we are still waiting for their response.
Is it really that easy to mess up an absentee ballot?
Yes, it really is. Remember that competitive primary for Queens District Attorney last summer? While much of the back-and-forth was fighting over the validity of affidavit ballots, absentee ballots were also an issue here.
“We looked at literally 90,000 ballots because the margin was less than one-half of one percent, and when that occurs in the city of New York and the margin is so close then there is a manual recount of each and every ballot,” Jerry Goldfeder, an election lawyer for Tiffany Caban, told Gothamist/WNYC. The margin in that race came down to roughly 60 votes. “People should not make any stray marks or write anything on the ballot. Just vote in the oval for the candidate of their choice,” Goldfeder advised.
While the BOE will not technically be doing a recount, the process of canvassing the absentee ballots is similar and will take a much more time than a normal election.
In some ways, we are about to experience a counting process on par with the Queens District Attorney primary multiplied by every competitive race in the city.
Does that mean results will be slow to come? Do we just wait for the Board of Elections to tell us who won?
Voters may be waiting a long time for results if the margin is close, especially in competitive races, like the Queens Borough President primary or the congressional primaries for NY-15 in the Bronx or NY-9 in Brooklyn, where there are lots of candidates on the ballot.
The vote-counting process is open to the candidates and members of the public, though space and social distancing constraints may be a factor. Campaigns will be able to designate someone to observe and object if they think a ballot is being eliminated unfairly.
“If we get very few objections, then the process will pick up speed and if we get a tremendous number of objections, then the process will slow down,” Ryan said last week.
In the Queens D.A. primary last year, after the recount and court fight, Tiffany Caban did not concede until August 6th, a month and half after the primary.
What do I need to know if I still plan to vote?
If you are going to vote absentee, make sure it is postmarked by June 23rd. Or you could drop it off at a BOE office or your poll site.
If you are comfortable going to go to a poll site, you may be better off voting in person. Polls are open from 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. Find your poll site here. You are far less likely to make a mistake because you don't have the added requirements of signing and dating the ballot envelope and you don’t have to rely on the US Postal service, which is a crucial link in this very sudden expansion of the state's absentee ballot program.
If you already mailed your absentee ballot, but you are concerned you filled it out incorrectly, you can still vote in person at a poll site.
Is there anywhere I can report election problems?
Yes, in fact there are several places. There is the non-partisan Election Protection 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) hotline available to answer calls from New York voters experiencing problems at the polls, including issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hotline will be available for the duration of New York’s election day – polls open in New York from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm EDT. The hotline is a resource for voters who seek to confirm their voter registration status, find their polling location or report any complaints regarding the voting process. The hotline is supported by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
Voters can also report problems to New York Attorney General Leticia James office at 1-800-771-7755, or election.hotline@ag.ny.gov.
Don’t forget to tell us about your experience at the polls or if you voted early or by mail. Leave a message at 646-470-7736. Your comments may be used on WNYC or Gothamist.
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