Friday is registration deadline to vote
Onondaga County election workers are working hard to make sure that the upcoming election--the first general election with computerized voting machines--goes smoothly.
This Friday is the deadline for registering to vote. You can download forms from your county Board of Elections, to be mailed by Friday, or you can register in person on Friday. Other state agencies, including Motor Vehicle Departments, have 'hard copies' of the forms.
The voting machines are being programmed, now that the state has certified the ballots. 213-thousand of the paper ballots will have to be printed and sorted to go to polling places.
Elections inspectors have been trained, but differently than in the past because some do not want to deal with the technicalities of the new equipment. Polling 'privacy areas' where ballots are marked are being assembled at the Board of Elections warehouse on Thompson Road, and the trucks that will carry the more delicate voting machines to the polling places are being checked.
Democratic Elections Commissioner Ed Ryan says they're still arguing with the state about the size of the circle to be marked on the ballots, and other details of the ballot have been changed slightly to make them more voter-friendly.
Republican Elections Commissioner Helen Kiggins says poll staffers are being encouraged to help voters understand the 'different' system.
And, after delays noted in the primaries, Onondaga County will hire 30 to 40 'runners' for election night to get memory cards to the Board of Elections from outlying polling places faster. That should mean results to you, an hour earlier than what happened last month.
