Politics

First-time voter’s experience with absentee voting altered due to the coronavirus

Madison Moore

November 8, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLoiyyPfew4

Just days before Tyler Cunnington, a first-time New York voter, was set to mail out his absentee ballot, he received news that he had been directly exposed to the coronavirus.

“So, unbeknownst to me, I had people trying to contact me and they instead called the front desk phone, which is where I work,” he said. “And it’s my friend, letting me know that a friend of mine had just tested positive, got her results back that morning, and I had been with her two days prior to that.”

Cunnington had to immediately leave work and go get tested to see if he had contracted the virus. While he was awaiting his test results, he had to quarantine at his home and could no longer get his ballot to the post office on his own.

“So I had already, I’d filled out a few votes, but I was trying to do a little more research, you know to, obviously make an educated decision,” he said. “And then this happened. So I was like, well, now I can’t leave the house.”

Cunnington found out on Friday that he had tested negative for COVID-19, but still has to quarantine until Nov. 10, one week after the election. He had a friend who was willing to pick up his ballot for him and drop it off at the post office in time for his vote to be counted.

Cunnington said this experience was a sobering one and made him realize how quickly the virus can spread.

Another first-time voter, Reese Michaels, was able to bring his own ballot to the Tompkins County Board of Elections drop box. While Michaels lives in Tompkins County, he said he decided to vote by absentee because it was easier to fill out the ballot on his own time and drop it off instead of waiting in a long line.

“This is the easiest option for me,” Michaels said.

However, given that this was his first time filling out a ballot, he said the process was a little complicated. He had to text his dad for help.

“My parents also did mail-in, so they kind of walked me through it,” he said.

This year, a checklist is displayed on the back of the mail-in ballot return envelope to remind voters of the steps they need to take -- such as signing and dating the ballot and putting a postage stamp on the return envelope -- to ensure their vote is counted. This checklist is a new addition to the envelope per an Executive Order by Governor Andrew Cuomo after issues arose during this year's primary election. (Ithaca Week/Madison Moore). — This year, a checklist is displayed on the back of the mail-in ballot return envelope to remind voters of the steps they need to take — such as signing and dating the ballot and putting a postage stamp on the return envelope — to ensure their vote is counted. This checklist is a new addition to the envelope per an Executive Order by Governor Andrew Cuomo after issues arose during this year’s primary election. (Ithaca Week/Madison Moore).

While Cunnington found the process to fill out the ballot easy, he said he was surprised at how many positions were up for election.

“If I’m going to be honest, I didn’t know there were as many positions per election, other than, you know, the President and your senators,” he said.

Cunnington said he hopes there are no issues with his ballot, but believes there will be some discrepancies with the election results due to the influx of mail-in ballots.

“It feels like it’s been talked about enough that it is a concern… so hopefully it all goes smoothly,” he said. “But I do think there might be some kind of delay with getting the results, other than election night.”

Stephen DeWitt, Democratic commissioner for the Tompkins County Board of Elections, said the county received a huge influx of absentee ballot requests this year, with roughly 14,900 voters requesting a mail-in ballot. This is up from 4,200 requests for the 2016 presidential election.

Mail-in ballots go through a rigorous process once they are received by the Board of Elections. The ballots are processed to ensure each envelope is sealed and signed and the signature matches the one on file. Then the sealed ballots are scanned into a database, alphabetized by election district, and locked in a secure location until November 10, when the ballots will be opened and counted. Before counting begins the BOE runs a report of all of the absentee ballots that were received against all of the people that voted in person to ensure no one voted twice. All of the mail-in ballots have to be certified by November 28th. (Ithaca Week/Madison Moore).

As of Oct. 27, DeWitt said the county had received about 8,000 absentee ballots back to the Board of Elections. However, DeWitt said he believes many people requested a ballot in case they couldn’t go in person as an insurance policy.

“A lot of people, if they feel safe enough to vote in person, are voting in person, even though they’ve already ordered a ballot,” he said. “So it wouldn’t surprise me if 10% of the absentee ballots that… have been applied for never get voted, you know, because people go and vote in person.”

Voters here in Tompkins County can drop off their ballots at the Tompkins County Board of Elections, or at any polling place in the county on Election Day. As always, voters can also mail-in their ballot through the USPS. Ballots in New York must be postmarked by November 3 and received by November 10 to be counted.

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