BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Thousands have already cast their vote early and absentee ballots are rolling into the Erie County Board of Elections. We'll watch the numbers roll in a week from today, but how do we get them? Who counts them? How do we know if our vote counts?
"It does count, every year we count every single ballot that is cast and we do an audit after the election," said Jeremy Zellner, Democratic Commissioner, Erie County Board of Elections.
A lot of questions surfaced after the 2020 election, so let's answer them.
What are your voting options?
There are three options for voting in New York State: absentee, voting early and voting at election day at your designated polling place.
Who's counting your votes?
It's a bipartisan process in Erie County. As the votes are being counted, there's a republican and a democrat there to watch.
While they count, candidates can send volunteers to act as their own set of eyes watching the process.
They then double check each vote in a canvassing process, starting on Monday, November 14.
When polls close at 9pm on election day, which votes are we talking about?
The numbers reported on election night include the votes cast that day, early votes and absentee votes received up until the day before election day. Other valid votes received after election day are still counted.
How does New York State count votes?
Most counties operate the same way, they send results to State Board of Elections, they'll accumulate those for the governor's races and statewide races.
The state has to certify results by December 15, so results you see on election night are unofficial.
What's changed since 2020?
Since 2020, nearly every state has adjusted voting laws, including about a dozen enacted here in New York State.
They're mostly about absentee voting. The biggest one this year is in place to prevent people from voting twice. In years past, if you voted absentee and then changed your mind, you could come down and vote on election day, not anymore.
Once you cast an absentee ballot, that's it. You won't be on the books at your polling place.
A lot of the absentee process is also now online and a law passed that make it harder to void absentee ballots, votes with marks and extra writing, if valid, must be counted.
