Early voting on Long Island: Long lines and more than 300,000 in-person votes cast

Election officials are preparing for a large wave of early voting this weekend after more than 300,000 people across Long Island had already cast an in-person ballot as of Thursday morning, a record high leading to long lines and frustration at some polling sites.

Some Long Islanders on Thursday said they tried two or three times to find a polling place where they would not spend hours.

Linda Joseph, 58, of East Setauket, said she saw long lines at one early voting site on Wednesday and another on Thursday morning before settling on the H. Lee Dennison Building in Hauppauge. She still waited about an hour there, but figured that was about the best she was going to get.

"This was the shortest line and I don’t know what it’s going to be like on Election Day," she said. "It’s going to be too long because everybody is voting. I don’t want to wait until the last minute."

Early voting in Nassau and Suffolk counties has increased exponentially compared with the 2020 presidential election, a growth party officials attribute in part to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as greater comfort with the concept of going to the polls early this time around. Election officials say they are doing their best to meet demand and have asked voters to be patient. Early voting began Oct. 26 and continues through Sunday.

In Suffolk County, 155,995 voters cast an in-person ballot as of Thursday morning, while that number stood at 68,652 at the same point in early voting in 2020, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections. In Nassau, 159,544 people voted at the polls as of Thursday morning, but equivalent 2020 totals were not available.

Residents faced lines even with more early voting sites than in years past.

Suffolk County has increased early voting sites from 10 to 28 and Nassau has grown from 15 to 27 since New York early voting began in 2019, election officials said. Long Island voters can use any early voting site in their county, but must use their assigned site on Election Day.

Voters are encouraged to vote at lesser-used early voting sites, which in Nassau include the Yes We Can Community Center in New Cassel and in Suffolk, St. Anne’s Hall in Brentwood, officials said.

Denise Brendel, of Seaford, said she voted at Massapequa Town Hall South on Thursday on her second attempt of the week and waited about an hour.

"I wish it was shorter but what are you going to do?" she said, adding, "Once you got in, it was like five minutes. ... It wasn’t bad."

Jim Scheuerman, the Nassau County Democratic elections commissioner, said the county Board of Elections is staffing extra workers and placing extra machines at sites this weekend, in part to process affidavit ballots.

Scheuerman noted the heavy turnout is ultimately a good thing for democracy.

"We’ve run these elections, and our folks sit there and no one votes and it’s brutal," he said. "It’s so good to have this kind of turnout."

Suffolk County Democratic Elections Commissioner John Alberts said lines have not lead to widespread issues.

"For the most part, I'm hearing everyone is being very patient," Alberts said. "When they get their turn to vote, they get their ballot, they're in and out."

Long Island Republicans have outpaced Democrats for in-person early voting, but Democrats have cast more ballots when factoring mail-in absentee voters.

Early voting totals as of Thursday morning were 62,421 Republicans to 52,175 Democrats in Suffolk County and 61,306 Republicans to 60,808 Democrats in Nassau. The balance of in-person ballots came from people who were registered with a third party or independently.

Absentee return totals in Nassau was 31,455 Democrats to 15,112 Republicans. In Suffolk, there were 40,129 ballots returned from Democrats and 24,382 from Republicans.

Election Day is Tuesday.

For more information on how to vote and to view candidate profiles, go to newsday.com/votersguide.