Associated Press: New York votes after primary season like no other

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A primary election season like no other will reach its conclusion Tuesday, as New Yorkers pick their candidates for congress, president and other offices following campaigns in which candidates largely had to connect with voters online amid a pandemic.

With the state allowing anyone to vote by absentee ballot rather than risk getting exposed to the coronavirus at a polling location, the process of collecting and counting votes will be different this year.

About 1.8 million people requested absentee ballots by mid-June and have until Tuesday to postmark them, according to elections officials.

Voting locations across the state will be open, but upstate there will be about 3,000 fewer of them than in a normal year due to the difficulties of maintaining socially distant polling precincts and expectations that more people will vote by mail. …

Voters who get ballots at the last minute can still send them in as long as they’re postmarked by Tuesday, according to Conklin, despite some confusion over ballots sent out that erroneously said they had to be postmarked by Monday. Those ballots were printed before the state extended its deadline to Tuesday.

Sarah Goff, Deputy Director at Common Cause New York, said the primary election process has moved “remarkably smoothly” so far, given the challenges, though people may have to wait two to three weeks to know Tuesday’s official results.

“So we just ask voters and candidates for patience,” Goff said. “And it’s more important that the local boards of elections take the time they need to get the count right and make sure every vote is counted.”