BUFFALO (WBEN) - On Wednesday, the Erie County Board of Elections staff, in front of the candidates and their representatives, are visually inspecting each ballot cast in the City of Buffalo to determine the number of votes cast for Democratic nominee India Walton and write-in candidate Byron Brown.
Republican Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr said they tabulated roughly 34,000 write-in votes among the 60,000 votes cast in the city, and he said the Board has gone through 17 districts so far.
Mohr added that the process is expected to take three to four days to complete.
"What is required is to, one, look at each and every ballot that was cast in the City of Buffalo, and then during the early voting process, because we have universal voting in the county, somebody in the City of Buffalo may have gone to the Town of Aurora and cast a ballot," said Mohr. "We have to search each and every one those other municipalities to determine if there are any City of Buffalo votes that were cast in that area.
"It's just the sheer volume of write-ins, which is the most I've seen in my tenure as a commissioner, as what's taking the time," he continued. "We appreciate the patience of the public and of the candidates to let us go through this process to make sure that each and every vote is counted."
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As for the mayoral race, it became fairly clear on Election Night that Byron Brown would eventually be declared the winner. Throughout the early write-in tabulating process, Mohr doesn't see anything to indicate otherwise.
"There are a large number of write-in votes, more write-in votes than there were cast for India Walton on the Democrat line," said Mohr. "As we go through the first districts here as we open in the City of Buffalo, it looks like Mayor Byron Brown is receiving the vast majority of those write-in votes, and if that percentage and trend continues throughout the other areas of the city, he'll be commencing an unprecedented fifth term as mayor of the City of Buffalo."
