BUFFALO (WBEN) - As the early voting period for the November 2nd Election begins Saturday, there are still questions and concerns regarding the write-in process amid a contested Buffalo mayoral race.
"There's two important things that need to be done in write-ins," said Ralph Mohr, Republican commissioner of the Erie County Board of Elections. "First, it has to be in the proper column - we have a number of offices that are up, so if you want to vote for the candidate for a particular office, you have to get it in the proper column.
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"The second thing is that it has to be identifiable to a candidate," he continued. "Any name which is written doesn't have to be perfectly spelled, doesn't have to be exactly the way the person is registered to vote, but it has to be identifiable to the candidate.
Mohr added that the Board of Elections doesn't hold voters to a strict standard when it comes to spelling or legibility so long as they know the intent of the voter.
One frequently asked question is whether it's a requirement to fill in the write-in bubble on the ballot in order for any write-in vote to count.
"The write-in bubble, which is provided in the the write-in square, is only for the tabulator," said Mohr. "We wish that people would go and fill in the circle because it assists us on Election Night by telling us how many write-in votes there are cast. However, if a voter fails to fill in the bubble, that write-in vote will still be counted, but they have to be manually counted at that point."
While the early voting period has been around for several election cycles, it's still relatively new. Democratic Commissioner Jeremy Zellner shared some of the details Erie County residents need to be aware of starting Saturday.
"We've got 38 sites across the county, and voters can utilize any one of them - they don't have to go the site in their town or closest to their house - it's universal," said Zellner.
On the weekends, polling times range from noon to 6 p.m., and weekday early voting times range from noon to 9 p.m.
This will be an unprecedented election with the number of write-in votes the board is expecting to have to tabulate. Zellner is preparing for delays in the tabulating process.
"We think that voting could be 50-60% in the city with the mayoral race this year," said Zellner. "It's going to take a little while because we have to literally hand count the City of Buffalo, but we'll get it done and we're going to start as soon as we get all the absentee ballots back in. We're going to work in an open, bipartisan fashion here at the board and get this done."
