BUFFALO (WBEN) - On the third day of early voting in New York State, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul visited Ss. Columba-Brigid Church, an early voting site in Buffalo.
"I cast a ballot of course for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who I believe will be our next President and Vice President when all of the ballots are counted, which probably will not happen on election night, but it's great to see so many people waiting to get out and vote," said Poloncarz.
While Hochul wasn't there to vote, but instead to provide treats to the poll workers, she said she's inspired by the number of people taking advantage of the early voting period and the high turnout.
"New York State had a history of not as much voter participation as we would have liked over the years, and we believe that, with early voting, promoting this, and reminding people how important their vote is, that we're going to see record numbers of people turning out to vote in the 2020 election," said Hochul.
Of course, voter turnout is almost always expected to be higher in presidential election years than non-presidential election years, but the early return is Erie County alone indicates a strong possibility of record participation in the democratic process.
"More people voted in the first days of early voting this year than all nine days combined last year, so it just shows that people are excited to get out there and vote," said Poloncarz. "As a percentage of our electorate, more people have voted early in Erie County than New York City. On the first day alone, 2.3% of our electorate voted in early voting compared to 1.8% of the electorate in New York City.
"They're celebrating in New York City about their tremendous turnout," he added. "That should tell is how impressive our turnout is here in Erie County."