New York’s June 23 primary elections — taking place amid a once-in-a-century coronavirus pandemic — could turn out to be the most unpredictable in modern history, with the outcomes of many competitive races left up in the air on Election Night because hundreds of thousands of voters casting ballots by mail.
About 1 million voters statewide have filed requests with election agencies to vote by absentee ballots — including about 300,000 in New York City and another 285,000 combined in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
The New York City elections board has so far received almost six times the number of absentee applications this year — 291,947 — as four years ago, when 50,998 were filed during the presidential primary.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order allowing New Yorkers to vote by absentee or mail-in ballot to help reduce “in-person” voting and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many poll workers are elderly and more susceptible to catching the killer bug.
“With a significant portion of the vote coming in via absentee ballots it will likely take weeks after the elections to count all the ballots and declare winners,” said state Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin.
A city Board of Elections insider said, “As much as half the vote could be by absentee ballot. We just don’t know.”
Fred Umane, a Manhattan Republican commissioner and secretary to the city elections board, said it’s the most unpredictable election in his lifetime.
“There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty over who may have won or lost in close races because of potential large number of absentee ballots,” he said.
Election officials here claim they won’t be caught short-handed or unprepared as Georgia elections districts were during primary elections earlier this week, where polling sites were besieged by hours-long lines caused by defective voting equipment and poll worker shortages.
City election officials insist they have roughly the same number of poll inspectors and coordinators who requested to man polling sites in 2016, though it’s unclear how many will show up because of the pandemic. Under normal circumstances, about 30 percent of poll workers don’t show up.
“We’re in better shape than Georgia,” Umane insisted.