election day

All 212 seats in the New York State Legislature are up for election this year. There are over a dozen contested seats in the state Senate where Democrats are favored to win in many of the contests and potentially gain a supermajority. But Republicans say they hope to gain some seats, too.

It's Groundhog Day for political junkies in New York's 23rd Congressional District, as Southern Tier Republican Rep. Tom Reed again battles Democratic challenger Tracy Mitrano, whom he beat with 54% of the vote two years ago.

Most of the attention this election season has been focused on the presidential campaign, but there are also a significant number of New York State Senate races in play. Democrats need just two more seats to gain a supermajority that could potentially override any vetoes of legislation issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Today is the deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot, as Election Day is a week away.

By the time the second day of Erie County's early voting closed Sunday night, 4.5% of the county's voters had cast their ballots. Erie County Republican Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr said that translated into 28,000 ballots during the first weekend of early voting - more than the total number of ballots cast in last year's general election.

Minor parties in New York face strict new rules this year to keep their candidates on the ballot without having to resort to petitioning for thousands of signatures, and one is making an all-out effort to boost votes on its line.

Early voting begins in New York on Saturday, and continues through Nov. 1, two days before Election Day.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led many voters to choose to cast their ballots by mail this year. In New York, every eligible voter can vote by absentee ballot if they are worried about the virus, but the rules are still a bit complicated. WBFO Albany Correspondent Karen DeWitt sat down with the League of Women Voters' Jennifer Wilson to sort it all out.

With Election Day a month away, New York State Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy is running a hardcore law-and-order campaign, attacking the criminal justice changes that have come out of Albany Democrats in the last two years.

Absentee ballot requests are piling up at the Erie County Board of Elections with Election Day eight weeks away. Already, there have been nearly 40,000.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has signed executive orders that he said will help ensure safe and secure voting in November’s elections.

The Erie County Board of Elections is tightening security on its computer systems as the country heads toward a presidential election.