Where to vote early?

In Tompkins County, registered voters can vote early by going to two designated in-person polling places between Oct. 24 – Nov. 1. The early-voting locations are located at the Town of Ithaca Town Hall and the Fire Rescue building on Brown Road.

Registered voters can also submit an absentee ballot by mail, addressed to the county Board of Elections at which they are registered, or drop it off at their county’s Board of Elections office. Stephen Dewitt, Democratic commissioner for the Tompkins County Board of Elections, said the Board of Elections will not start counting absentee ballots until Nov. 10.

Eligible voters have until Oct. 27 to apply for an absentee ballot and must mail or drop off their absentee ballots no later than Election Day.

Before that, Dewitt said every Board of Elections office in New York takes measures to make sure no one voted twice.

Dewitt said the Board of Elections has to submit a voter history of everyone who voted in person during the election process and everyone that submitted an absentee or affidavit ballot to the state in order to count absentee ballots.

“The state runs reports to make sure that nobody is showing up twice in that process across the state,” Dewitt said.

Breaking voter records

Over 58.6 million people nationwide have already cast their ballot for the 2020 election, with record turnout among registered democrats. According to the Elections Project, democrats make up over 50 percent of early voters. A Washington Post/University of Maryland poll, conducted in September, showed six in ten eligible voters intend on voting early nationwide.

Jim Gustafson, chair of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee (TCDC), said the TCDC has been encouraging virtual engagement in the 2020 election through phone banking events and its annual Get Out To Vote initiative.

“What that involves is extensive phone banks and getting people together to call voters from registered voter lists,” Gustafson said.

Leading up to Election Day, Gustafson said volunteers sign up for 12 hours shifts during which they make phone calls. He also said the TCDC has been sharing information on how to vote by absentee ballot and what early voting looks like in Tompkins County.

“We’re doing whatever we can do in this pandemic environment to get people out to vote,” Gustafson said.

Michael Sigler, chair of the Tompkins County Republican Committee (TCRC), said the TCRC set up a headquarters in August to answer questions and learn more about candidates. He said he expects enthusiasm from both sides about voting this year.

“I certainly think we’re going to see something like we saw in 2016 from both sides,” Sigler said. “I expect the same type of enthusiasm on both sides of the aisle this year, and I really have no idea which way it is going to go at this point.”

Dewitt said voter enthusiasm led to an increase in registered voters in the county.

“We now have 58,000 plus registered voters in Tompkins County,” Dewitt said. “The most we had in the past was 55,000 plus.”

Despite the pandemic, there’s also an increase in the number of poll workers. Dewitt said he expected the opposite to happen given that he struggled to find poll workers for the primary in June.

“I was really dreading going forward to November, because for the primary election we only need about two- thirds of the workers that we need in November,” Dewitt said.

Dewitt said there was a surge in inquiries about becoming a poll worker.

“We’ve got over 100 people trained already to work on election day for about 60 spots that I have to fill,” Dewitt said. “I’ve never had that luxury and it’s at a point now where I have to turn people away.”

Dewitt also said finding polling places for Election Day was an unexpected challenge. For most polling locations, Dewitt said the Board of Elections sends out a contract, usually the same from the previous year, establishing when the election will be and what hours poll workers will be there.

“If any of them say that they cannot be a polling place, which this year they did because of COVID-19, then we have to go find alternate sites or consolidate polling places,” Dewitt said.

There were four polling sites that did not renew their contract for the 2020 election – Ellis Hollow apartments, Titus Tower apartments, Kendal at Ithaca and a local church.