“We’ve had a wonderful rush of inspectors this year so we’re overstaffing the sites. So someone can be in charge of maintaining social distancing, wiping down each piece of equipment and surface in between voter use, and making sure people have masks,”
Board of Elections begins sending record number of absentee ballots in Onondaga County – cnycentral.com
Czarny says they have been working with the United States Postal Service to be as efficient as they can be to get these ballots out on time. He says if you need to request an absentee ballot do it sooner rather than later.
Onondaga County is mailing 34,000 absentee ballots this weekend, 6 weeks before Election Day – Syracuse.com
About 10,000 will go to the North Syracuse U.S. Post Office this evening, said Elections Commissioners Michele Sardo and Dustin Czarny. Of those, about 1,000 are for U.S. military members, they said.
By Monday, the Board of Elections plans to stuff, label and mail all 34,000 absentees that have been requested as of late this week. In coming days, the elections workers plan to process absentee requests as they come in.
Absentee Ballots Could Result in Record Voter Turnout – NCC News
Czarny said you have to be sure you don’t make mistakes on your absentee registration.“ The two most common mistakes are either not sending it in on time, after the post mark date, which is surprising that it happens, but it does, that is the most common mistake. The second most common mistake is forgetting to sign the back of the absentee envelope,” Czarny said.
Wonky Wednesday AD 126th
Welcome to this week’s episode of Wonky Wednesday. As a part of my ongoing voter education efforts I am doing a weekly blog doing a dive into registration data for the races on the ballot on the 2020 ballot. Onondaga County has undergone tremendous change throughout the last decade. These changes have given Democrats enrollment advantages or closed deficits in many races. The 5 Assembly races in Onondaga County are no exception to those changes.
Enter the 126th Assembly district. This district is in the Southwest portion of Onondaga County bad travels west to the southern portion of Cayuga County and then snakes back east to capture the northern halves of Cortland & Chenango County. This district has been represented by Gary Finch (R) for over 20 years. His announced retirement and intention not to run again leaves this an open seat in 2020. The seat tilts to the GOP and is dominated in population by Onondaga County followed closely by Cayuga.
The Democratic candidate for this seat is Dia Carabajal. She is running on the Democratic and Working families line. A former member of the Auburn City Council she is focusing her race on the environmental record. She is also making an appeal that a member of the majority will be more effective in bringing resources to the region then staying in the GOP minority in the NYS Assembly.
The Republican candidate is John Lemondes. Mr. Lemondes is actually the last candidate to enter this race as he was a replacement for the original GOP candidate Ken Bush. Mr. Lemondes upset Lafayette Town supervisor and son of Onondaga County DA, Danny Fitzpatrick. He will appear on the GOP, Conservative, and Independence Party line.
This district is trending toward the Democrats but not at as high a rate as previous wonky Wednesday. Democrats have decreased the GOP enrollment advantage by over 1500 voters since 2012. That is a 25% gain during that time period. However the GOP advantage remains for the 2020 election and is still a problem for any perspective Democrat.
It may surprise some readers to see that the Onondaga County portion of this district is not the most Democratic portion. The Cayuga County portion of the district contains the City of Auburn which has a decided Democratic plurality to it. Ms. Carabajal’s representation in Auburn can hopefully lend itself to turning up Democratic leaning voters to vote for her in the fall. The southwestern towns of Onondaga County are trending towards the Democrats however the historic deficits in enrollment will mean it is years before they reach plurality Democrat.
The key to this race will be like most 2020 races, capitalizing on the increased turnout of a Presidential year. It should be noted that Mr. Finch never really won his races much beyond the voter enrollment edges he enjoyed. Ms. Carabajal to be successful will have to convince Presidential voters to stay on the line and vote for her as well. She will also need to convince more conservative and independent voters that her candidacy is a viable alternative to a GOP candidate they may not know. If she can do that she can piece together a coalition to win in November.
If you want to help out Dia Carabajal visit her website https://www.diaforassembly.com/ to learn how to volunteer or donate to her campaign.
Drop-off boxes for absentee ballots coming to Onondaga County – WRVO
“They’re on wheels, they’re locked and sealable,” Czarny said. “They cannot be opened without bipartisan controls on them. They will be transported from the polling places on Election Day back to the Board of Elections, and every night on early voting, back to the Board of Elections, for logging in the absentee ballots to get prepared for our counts after Election Day.”
Onondaga County prepares for record-setting avalanche of absentee ballots – Syracuse.com
The boards of elections will start sending the absentee ballots Friday, Sept. 18.Voters can fill out those ballots and send them back – by mail or in person – as soon as they get them, Czarny said.“ Or somebody can drop it off for you,” Czarny said.
What To Know This Election Season – WSYR9
With less than 50 days until Election Day on November 3rd making sure your informed is important. Onondaga Election Commissioners Dustin Czarny (D) and Michele Sardo (R) talk about what you should know about the upcoming election season.
https://www.localsyr.com/news/local-news/what-to-know-this-election-season/
Onondaga County Elections Commissioner: “We Will Overturn Every Rock That We Can” – Capitol Tonight
I appeared on Capital Tonight to talk about our application for private grants and how we are funding elections in New York State in my role of Onondaga County Commissioner and NYSECA Democratic Caucus Chair.
Commissioner in a car: The ballots are coming edition.
go to onvote.net to apply for absentee inspector or check your registration.
https://www.facebook.com/dustinmczarny/videos/320902985657718
Dustin M. Czarny 