Just like everything else in 2020, this election season has been extremely different compared to years before. 

With COVID-19 looming, how to vote was an overwhelming question for most U.S. citizens, especially trying to keep families safe while still participating in this election made for some confusion and misunderstanding. However, this did not stop people from going out of their way to vote. 

Emotions of every political party are heightened in this election, making the turnout of early voters unlike any other. According to the U.S. Election Project, over 101.3 million people voted before Election Day, including mail-in ballots and in-person polling. This number is already 73% of the voters in the entire 2016 general election. 

In New York, the total number of people who have voted as of Nov. 5 is over 7.1 million, including returned absentee ballots and in-person voting. 

According to the Oswego County Board of Elections, voter turnout this election has increased significantly in Oswego, just as it has nationally. 

“The numbers are way up for this election. For the General Election last year, we processed a total of 696 voters during early voting,” said Laura Brazak, the Oswego Board of Elections Commissioner. “This year we processed 7,926, we usually get around 2,000 absentee ballots, but because of COVID, we have already received 8,650 returned ballots.”

Brazak predicted that Nov. 3, Election Day, will have a massive turnout. 

“We have 73,930 registered active voters. We’re a little over 20% turnout already,” Brazak said. “In 2016, we had a 69% voter turnout total. I expect we will top that this year.”

Voter turnout, volunteering and participation have increased dramatically this election. Young voters are specifically becoming more involved in this election. According to a Harvard Youth Poll, 63% of 18 to 24-year-old respondents answered that they will “definitely be voting” in the 2020 election. 

However, Vote Oswego, a class centering around campaigning to get SUNY Oswego students involved in voting, has noticed that participation has stagnated compared to recent years. 

“[Involvement] is less this semester with Vote Oswego, but the national trend suggests that engagement is much higher,” said Allison Rank, the professor of the Vote Oswego class. “And so, it’s tricky. Normally we have tons of volunteer opportunities, and lots of people come out for events. But I understand why people didn’t want to sit in their rooms by themselves to volunteer with Vote Oswego.”

Young voters are known for not participating in elections and not turning out to vote. However, this election has changed that assumption. Although Vote Oswego has not had as much involvement this election cycle, nationally young voters are more involved. 

“All of the national trends show that students, or young people generally, are paying much more attention in this election,” Rank said. “[They] are much more likely to have volunteered in some capacity around this election, and are much more aware of different issues in the election than they were in 2018 and certainly 2016.”

Many trends of this election have strayed far from tradition, and COVID-19 has made it difficult for volunteers and voters, forced to change their usual strategies. 

In previous years, Vote Oswego has had events all over the SUNY Oswego campus, opening themselves up to students to ask questions, Rank said. Now that everything is online, they had to change their plan of action. 

“It’s just harder for us to build that collective feeling around voting,” Rank said. “We are doing everything we can with having social media stickers and emails, but it’s just harder for us to feel confident that students are getting their questions answered because it’s harder to ask that question now than it was before.” 

Most campaign strategies have been online-based, and Vote Oswego, like many others, have taken it to their social media accounts.

According to Rank, one trend that has stayed consistent is the desire for stickers. Students who have voted, in this election and previous ones, reach out and make sure they get the famous “I Voted” sticker. For SUNY Oswego students who voted, they can go to voteoswego.com to download an “I Voted” sticker if they have not gotten one already. 

Photo provided by Esther Loja via Vote Oswego