Early voting begins in New York on Saturday

NEW YORK - New York is about to undertake early voting in a Presidential election for the first time in the state's history.

Beginning Saturday, October 24, the city will open 88 locations, including schools, two large arenas, and casinos.

But the 88 locations is far from the 1,200 locations that will be open on Election Day itself.

"I wish there were more early voting sites," said Lawrence Norden of the NYU Brennan Center for Justice. "Particularly in Manhattan and Queens where it looks like they are below the state recommended number for voting sites per voter."

According to Norden, state law says that there should be one polling location for every 50,000 voters. For instance, there are just 18 locations in Queens, but with the borough's 1.3 million registered voters, it should have 26 locations.

"We processed as many early voting locations as we could for this election, given all the challenges associated with the COVID-19 emergency," said Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the New York City Board of Elections.

Ryan says that while they hoped to have more sites open, the city has made progress from the 66 locations that were available for early voting in 2019.

In an efort to cut down on the long voter lines we've seen across the nation so far, teh city is suggesting that voters do not try to go first thing Saturday morning, but instead utilize all 9 days of early voting.

Voters also need to remember that each registered voter has only one designated location where you can vote early. To find yours, visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc