You probably won’t have a long to wait to cast your ballot on Election Day.
That’s the prediction from local election officials — even though they’re expecting large numbers of voters at the polls. . The Onondaga County Board of Elections is anticipating between 210,000 and 225,000 voters in Onondaga County.
Edward Ryan is the Democratic commissioner for the Board of Elections. He says waiting times will depend on where you go. He predicted that students at Syracuse could have some delays.
“Syracuse University is an absolute nightmare, because you kids all want to vote on for the president, but nobody else around here. So we go from 30 to 40 in that area, to 900 on Election Day for the president. But we forgive you.” (Ed Ryan, Democratic commissioner, Onondaga County Board of Elections)
Timing is also everything. Polls open at 6 a.m. Commissioner Ryan says the earlier you can get to the polls, the less time you have to wait.
“Six o’clock you probably won’t have any wait at all at Bird Library, but at 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, you know that’s going to be a busy time.” ( Ryan, Democratic commissioner, Onondaga County Board of Elections.)
He says another time to avoid is the afternoon rush hours when people are heading home from work. That’s between the hours of 4 and 7. And Commissioner Ryan warns there is typically a mad dash at 8:30 p.m. before the polls close at 9 p.m.
Onondaga County is using the lever voting machine for the last time this election. Commissioner Ryan says it is a pretty simple machine to use.
“You can be in and out of there in less than a minute if you know what you’re for and against. So 3 to 4 minutes will probably be as much as anyone will need. There are only 7 or 8 levers to pull and you’re done.” (Ryan, Democratic commissioner, Onondaga County Board of Elections)
So he advises that voters go prepared with knowledge of whom they want to vote for. That cuts down waiting time too.
Again, the polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. on November 4th.
Reporting for Democracywise, I’m Leigh Paynter.
(Leigh Paynter is a graduate broadcast journalism major).
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