TOMPKINS COUNTY, N.Y.—Tompkins County voters may not know the outcome of the local elections until mid-November, according to the Tompkins County Board of Elections.
Democratic Election Commissioner Stephen DeWitt said that Board of Elections staffers are currently scheduled to start counting the ballots on Nov. 10, a week after Election Day. DeWitt said there were around 11,600 absentee ballots turned in by local voters so far, although ballots are eligible to be turned in until 9 p.m. Fifty or so ballots had been tossed out, since the voters who turned in those absentee ballots had decided to vote in-person instead, but the rest will wait to be counted, DeWitt said. That number of tossed ballots is fairly normal for an election.
It’s unclear how long other counties intend to wait until they count their absentee ballots, though those ballots will also obviously factor into most of the elections being voted on by Tompkins County voters. The delay matches the one that voters had to wait for during the primary election: though voting was held on June 23, the absentee ballot count didn’t begin until July 1, and the results of that count weren’t announced until July 6 (although there was also a weekend and the July 4 holiday to contend with during that time).
If you’re wondering whether or not your mail-in ballots has been received you can find out by calling the BOE at at (607) 274-5522 until 9 p.m. tonight or between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. during the week. Voters can also email their query to the BOE here.