Welcome to the #weeklywonk. This is my weekly blog about statistics, registration data, and election law on my website, dustinczarny.com. This is a rebrand of my #wonkywednesday and #sundaythoughts columns I have been writing since 2020. In merging these two side projects together I am hoping to be a little more regular in my production. I have also not tied myself to a particular day to release these columns, hoping to release them weekly on the weekend. This way I can have more time to gather the statistics and resources that I want to devote to these articles. This week I continue my look back at the August 23rd Congressional and State Senate Primary with a breakdown of Election Day Voting.
Election Day for the August 23rd Primary was 6am to 9pm. We had 149 polling places open in Onondaga County. There were county wide congressional races for the Democrats and Republicans. There was also a conservative race for #SD48 which includes Syracuse, and the southern and western border towns. In contrast the to the June primary there were actual local candidates driving turnout and not just statewide races.
There were 26492 Election Day voters in the August 22nd primary. This represented 78% of the overall electorate and by far the most popular voting method. Early Voting was second with 4154 (12%), followed by Absentee 3069 (9%) and Affidavit 181 (1%). Democrats used Election Day more with 15,060 voters (57%). Republicans had 11,134 election day voters (42%) and Conservatives 298 (1%). For the August Primary Democrats outnumbered Republicans in every method of voting.
There were more voters overall in the August primary and that held true for the August Primary. Election Day voting at 78.43% was the most popular method, but the smallest share of turnout since the pandemic primary of June 2020. When comparing to the June Primary there were more 3220 more Election Day voters an increase of 13.8%. However, the voting share of election Day fell by nearly 3% overall. This is likely because the oddly timed primary prompted voters to seek more alternative methods.
St. Joseph’s Parish in Camillus took over the top spot of polling places with 474 voters and last primary’s top polling place N. Syracuse School District fell to second place at 470. Also returning to the top ten of polling places are Manlius Village Centre (459), Immaculate Conception (412), Spiritual Renewal (398), Marcellus Firehouse (395), and Camillus Municipal (353). Three new polling places climbed into the top ten Skaneateles Fire Department (414), Skaneateles Presbyterian (376) and Bellevue Heights (358). The #SD48 conservative race featured a Skaneateles resident (Julie Abbott) and in a low turnout election even small influxes of conservative voters could surge those two Skaneateles polling places to the top ten. Dropping out of the top ten is N. Syracuse Community Center, E. Syracuse Fire Department #2, and Gillette Middle Road School. In N. Syracuse’s case they were a combined polling place with Bellewood Baptist for June only as they had vacation bible school in June.
On Election Day during primaries there is a definitive pattern in busiest hours. Early in the morning is light turnout in the first hour 6am to 7am (468 in August). Turnout rises steadily to its first apex from 10am to 11 Am (2108 in August). Voting then dips a bit and levels off until 4pm. It then rises sharply with the 5pm to 6pm hour the biggest (2819 in August). The hours of 4pmto 5pm and 6pm to 7pm are usually the second and third highest hours all day as well making the busiest time of voting 4pm-7pm (7,544 voters 28.5% of the overall Election Day Vote.). After 7pm voting drops substantially until close of polls. There are always a few voters who check in after 9pm because they walk through the door at 9 but take a few minutes to check in (4 countywide in August).
That does it for this edition of the #weeklyWonk. Next week I will finish my look at the August 23rd Primary by diving into the Overall Turnout performance. After that we resume our look at voter registrations for the General Election with Senate Seats #50 & #48 as well as the towns of Manlius, Onondaga, and Pompey. Check back each week.
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Dustin M. Czarny 