Don’t expect election results Tuesday night, Wednesday morning or even by the end of next week.
That’s because of the high number of absentee ballots and necessary checking and cross-checking to make sure nobody voted twice.
Rich Shultes, one of Schoharie County’s deputy election commissioners, said results from national and regional races probably won’t finalized till the end of the following week, November 12 or 13.
What will be available on Election Night, however, are results from Tuesday’s voting machine and the nine early voting sessions.
And apparently early voting is popular. On Saturday, the first day, 245 people voted, and on Sunday, another 298, Mr. Shultes said.
It looks like, overall, turnout may be heavy. Schoharie County earlier this year had 18,300 registered voters; that number’s grown to 20,000 the past few months, Mr. Shultes said.
Normally, Mr. Shultes said, 14,000 to 16,000 Schoharie County voters turn out in a presidential election year, but with increased registration, the turnout could be higher.
The county Board of Elections office had requests for 2,000 absentee ballots. In a typical year, there may be 800 to 1,000 absentees, Mr. Shultes said.
The Board of Elections can’t begin counting absentee ballots until Monday or Tuesday after elections. Then, the county and state must check to make sure nobody voted twice.
The process is the same in every county, so races covering multiple counties––Congress, State Senate and Assembly––it’s necessary to tabulate and add results from every county in each district.
Early voting at the Board of Elections at the county office building in Schoharie continues:
•Today, Wednesday, 9am to 8pm.
•Thursday, 9am to 5pm.
•Friday, 9am to 5pm.
•Saturday, 9am to 2pm.
•Sunday, 9am to 2pm.
Masks and social distancing are required.