2020 Primary Day is Tuesday; Early Voting and Mail-In Voting Already Underway

MAYVILLE – Primary Day is Tuesday, June 23 in New York State and Chautauqua County.

All Democrats and Libertarians in the county, along with Busti Republicans, will vote for selected offices, including the Democratic Presidential Primary.

The primary elections are for 11 Democratic candidates who qualified for the New York statewide vote and some Democratic national convention delegate slates pledged to the candidates; a Busti Town Council Republican primary; and a countywide Libertarian race within the western New York 8th Judicial District.

Last month the Chautauqua County Board of Elections encouraged voters to vote by mail as a health precaution against the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. As a result, the board of elections sent out 26,469 absentee ballot applications to county Democrats, 211 applications to Libertarians and 2,316 applications to Busti Republicans so voters could skip traveling to the polls for the primary elections.

On-location voting for primary day will be available 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at all of the county poll sites.

For those who wanted to vote early but in person, early voting has also been underway since June 13 at the Mayville board of elections office. The Nov. 3 General Election will find expanded early voting available at the County Fair Grounds, Dunkirk and the Chautauqua Mall, Lakewood – as well as in Mayville.

All voters will be required to wear a protective mask and to observe social distancing, so as to protect poll workers and other voters. Complimentary facemasks will be given to voters who need one.

Anyone with a primary still wishing to vote by mail may call the Board of Elections at 716-753-4552 .

Voters wishing to view early voting and primary day results should visit votechautauqua.com  starting at 9 p.m. June 23.  However, since the majority of votes cast will be through the mail, absentees will not be added to the totals until the afternoon of June 30.