Officials see no dramatic increase in absentee ballots

About 11 percent of registered voters in the Capital Region are using absentee ballots for Tuesday’s election, a number consistent with past presidential races, election officials said.

Some 34,909 out of 375,000 voters in Albany, Fulton, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties asked for absentee ballots from their respective boards of elections. The ballots have to be postmarked by midnight today or hand-delivered to the Board of Elections by 9 p.m. Tuesday to be counted, and they cover all races, ranging from local to presidential.

Elections boards will not tally the ballots until Friday at the earliest. They have up to a week after the election to certify them.

People who obtain absentee ballots are out of town, such as college students, or hospitalized or infirm, or they are newly registered voters and others who fall into categories where they cannot appear physically to vote.

Absentee ballots are not likely be a factor in larger races, such as those involving Congress and the state Senate and Assembly, unless the margins are tight, said Matthew J. Clyne, Democratic commissioner for Albany County.

“There is a misconception with absentee ballots. They have the same breakdown as machine votes. It sounds intriguing, that they can make a difference, but you are not going to pick up that many votes off absentees,” Clyne said.

In tight races, where the margin is small, absentee ballots could play a determinative role, however, Clyne said.

In Schenectady County, for example, absentee ballots may play a factor in the Scotia village trustee race, said Art Brassard, county Republican election commissioner. This race features Armon Benny, Carol Carpenter, Thomas Gifford and Andrew Kohout running for two seats on the board.

Absentee ballots may also affect local races in Duanesburg and Princetown. Schenectady County issued more than 4,600 absentee ballots and received 3,200 as of Monday.

“It is a little above normal. For a normal election, we would process 2,000 to 3,000 and get back about 2,500,” Brassard said.

Clyne said there are no tight races in Albany County, but Fulton County Democratic Commissioner Janet Grainer said the supervisor race in the town of Caroga between Ronald McLain and James Selmser could be decided by absentee ballots.

Clyne said absentee ballots generally mirror local demographics. The Albany County board sent out 10,000 absentee ballots and received 7,164 as of Monday, about 14 percent of registered voters, he said. The breakdown of received ballots is 4,956 from Democrats and 2,208 from Republicans, reflecting the county’s 2-to-1 enrollment difference between the major parties.

Clyne said the number of absentee ballots sent out this year are is typical for a presidential election year and higher than an off-year.

“The numbers double between a presidential election and a normal odd-year election,” he said.