NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. (WBEN) – While Erie County has a multitude of options for local voters to cast their ballot ahead of the November 5 election, Niagara County is much slimmer.
Erie County has 37 early voting polling locations compared to just two by Niagara County. Both commissioners for the Niagara County Board of Elections said that there are only two because of the number of registered voters in the county. In Niagara county, there are close to 140,000 registered voters while Erie County has nearly 600,000 voters.
“We were only mandated to have two sites so that’s what we went with,” Republican Commissioner Jennifer Sandonato said. “We did that having a site on the eastern and western end to make it more convenient for all the surrounding areas.”
Early voting has not resulted so far in a huge voter boom in Niagara County. As of Wednesday, Sandonato said less than 1,000 people voted ahead of the November 5 election day. Democratic Commissioner Lora Allen said the number was estimated at 1,200 people as of Thursday afternoon.
“I did not have any (expectations),” Allen said. “You can’t have expectations because this is the first time. I didn’t know what to expect.”
Allen believes that early voting will become more popular as time goes by and people learn that it’s an option in Niagara County.
“A lot of the people like it,” Allen said. “They can vote when they want to vote and not be necessarily limited to one day.”
Sandonato said there may be more early voting sites in the future, especially because of next year’s presidential election, where turnout will be the highest.
Niagara County’s early voting sites are at Saint John De LaSalle Center at 8469 Buffalo Avenue in Niagara Falls and the Wrights Corners Fire Company on 4043 Lake Avenue in Lockport. Early voting hours are from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.