Early Voter Turnout Shatters Records Across New York

As the 2024 election season comes to a close, local officials have urged residents across the state to exercise their right to vote through New York’s early voting process. In Ulster County, early voting was available in the nine days prior to election day, allowing residents to vote at any of the county’s six early voting centers. These early voting locations included Olive American Legion Hall in Shokan, Midtown Neighborhood Center in Kingston, Ellenville Public Library, New Paltz Community Center, Marlborough Community Center and Saugerties Senior Center.

In the first weekend of early voting in New York state, more than 700,000 ballots were cast — a record turnout, especially for New York City. According to the NYS Board of Elections, in NYC alone, residents from Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx cast a total of 257,860 votes in just two days. In the midst of the early voting process in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Oct. 28 that the state had invested $140 million in both state and federal funds to modernize election infrastructure. These investments included upgrades for equipment, improved security protocols at state boards of elections locations, e-poll books and postage for local boards of elections. 

Early voting measures were first enacted in New York in 2019 under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in an effort to provide greater access to voting across the state, which, prior to this enactment, had some of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country. This change in law was created in conjunction with the looming 2020 election year, which saw three elections: a presidential primary, a primary for federal and state legislative seats and a general election in November. 

Here in Ulster County, the early voting process began on Oct. 26 and ended on Nov. 3. All voters registered in Ulster County were entitled to cast their ballot at any of the aforementioned polling locations during this period, expanding the opportunity to take part in the democratic process. 

At SUNY New Paltz, the majority of students were eligible to vote in both local elections and presidential elections, many for the first time. The age of social media and mass misinformation can often make it challenging for new voters to feel confident in choosing who to vote for. With election season comes a deluge of information, leaving many new voters feeling overwhelmed. 

Emma Paulsen, the project coordinator for New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) at SUNY New Paltz, encouraged students to stay well–informed about their vote in the weeks leading up to the local and presidential elections. “NYPIRG has been working hard to not only register students to vote, but to distribute information to make voting easier,” Paulsen said. The group rallied more efforts to encourage voting among students, especially after the early voting period began.

“We do phone banking events, both before election day and on election day, where we call students who have registered with us to further assist voting plan development,” Paulsen said.

For many, early voting allows for more convenient, fast and accessible opportunities to cast their ballot, Paulsen went on to say. “Early voting boosts voter participation, and makes voting a lot more easy and accessible as a whole. Folks can skip out on long lines and vote on their own time.” 

In the weeks leading up to the presidential election, various organizations on campus held a number of pre-election voter action events. Through the combined efforts of campus–based groups such as the Center for Student Engagement and the New Paltz Student Association, events like the Rock the Vote Fair and Democracy 101 workshops served to better educate and involve students in the voting process. 

Student engagement in voting was one of the key efforts encouraged by groups like NYPIRG. Paulsen believed that joint unity was a major factor in whether or not people decided to vote. “Sometimes, people might see voting as intimidating if they’ve never done it before,” she said. “But, by having a voting buddy to go with or talking to someone that just voted, it can seem much more approachable.” 

A large number of SUNY New Paltz students, especially first–year students, felt that voting early fulfilled their sense of civic duty. For first–year international relations and music performance major Kat Samedova, this sentiment was very true. Samedova, who is originally from Kingston, recently voted early at the Midtown Neighborhood Center in Kingston. 

“It makes it easier to fulfill my civic duty by voting. I wanted to vote, but with the uncertainty in the [current] political situation and just the amount of people that are voting, it was quicker and more convenient to go early,” Samedova said. 

Samedova, a first–time voter, also recognized the importance of civic duty in the broader span of democracy. “My family immigrated from the Soviet Union, where the elections didn’t matter. The Communist Party won regardless of what happened.” With this in mind, Samedova understood the necessity of voter participation. “Seeing how my mom fought for her right to vote for the first time here…it’s my duty to uphold the democratic process.”

New Paltz residents were able to vote early at a number of Ulster County polling locations, including the New Paltz Community Center, located at 3 Veterans Drive. Voting was available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day between Oct. 26 and Nov. 3, with the exception of Mondays and Wednesdays, on which voters could vote between noon and 8 p.m. Although it didn’t serve as an early voting location, Elting Gymnasium in the Athletic and Wellness Center was a designated polling place for the SUNY New Paltz community on Election Day.

A number of post-election discussions will be held in the days following the presidential election on campus. For more information on these events, visit @newpaltzcse on Instagram. For information on future voting, visit https://elections.ny.gov/.