Across New York state, from Oct. 26 to Nov. 3, voters could cast their ballots early in the regional elections that occurred this year. This was the first year that New York has offered early voting. It is a critical change in the fight to keep voting accessible and hopefully drive up turnout for the critical local elections. Unfortunately, voters did not show much interest. 

New York voted to pass early voting in January, giving local boards of elections the ability to set up polling places as they saw fit for their municipalities. In almost every county in New York State, excluding New York County, some downstate counties with large populations and Albany, voters could go to their local board of elections office to vote. Early voting was almost exactly the same as normal voting, although with a lower expected turnout and all precincts in a county kept in one room. However, some poll workers remarked how underprepared they felt for the task. 

In a story in the New York Times released on Oct. 24, Erie County Democratic elections commissioner Jeremy Zellner said that the state “just kind of dumped this on us.” For the state to have had no plan in place for implementing the measure is a sad example of what New York so often falls victim to: attempting to be a progressive “city on a hill,” but not planning that city before construction starts. 

That lack of preparation may have contributed to the abysmal turnout for the early voting this year. Considering the ardent cries by progressives for New York to make the voting process, from registering in a party to actual voting, easier, one would expect that at least progressives would take advantage of that newfound ease. That does not appear to be the case. Statewide, 2% of the registered voting population took advantage of early voting. In New York City, 1.3% of those registered voted early. 

Maybe it is the fact that this year was a year of local elections. Local elections oftentimes get ignored by a majority of voters because they usually are less flashy, get less TV time and appear less important. That is a poor position to take, as local offices are perhaps some of the most influential in the average American’s day-to-day life. 

Local offices decide what taxes to charge homeowners and even what sales taxes to collect. They set water and sewer bills, choose the age at which a person can buy cigarettes, where they can smoke those cigarettes and what time the bars and liquor stores close. Local offices choose how to police a municipality and they oftentimes have a hand in running local healthcare and schooling. Local government is the government that almost every person will engage with on some level every day. The leaders of a city can make or break it, and it is incredibly important to get involved in those elections as well. 

Local elections should see more voters than they do now and should ideally see as many voters as presidential elections. This year, New York made voting easier than it has ever been before in the state. Unfortunately, it appears that the voters of the state have chosen to ignore it, and their own interests, by not taking advantage of the opportunity. 

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