Early voting begins this year in Columbia and Greene Counties. Columbia County will have three early voting sites, and Greene County will have one.

Columbia County’s polling sites will be at the Columbia County Board of Elections Office in Hudson; the MH Glynn Municipal Building in Valatie; and Copake Town Hall in Copake. Voters may select any of the three sites to vote at. If you choose to vote early, you will not be eligible to vote on Election Day (Nov 5).

“Voting will be exactly as it always has been on Election Day — on a paper ballot that the voter will vote and then scan into a voting machine,” said Virginia Martin, Democratic commissioner of the Columbia County Board of Elections. “Sign-in will be a little different. To accommodate the flexibility that voters have, we will be signing voters in on new electronic poll books, which are special tablets that have been programmed with the voter rolls.”

Columbia County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Jason Nastke said, “I think this gives voters a greater chance to participate in the democratic process by opening up the amount of hours available to them to cast their vote,” Nastke said. “Last year, 18% of the vote in Columbia County was cast by absentee ballot. I think early voting should cut down on that significantly.”

Early voting will be open to anyone who is registered to vote. Just show up at the location, and then you will follow the same procedures as usual. Absentee voting will still be available.

DATES/TIMES:
For the November election, voting will begin October 26 and will run through November 3. On Monday, Nov. 4, there will be no early voting, and the general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the usual polling sites.

LOCATIONS:
Columbia County Board of Elections Office
401 State St., Hudson, NY 12534

MH Glynn Municipal Building
3211 Church St., Valatie NY 12184

Copake Town Hall
230 Mountain View Rd., Copake NY 12516

In Greene County, there will be one early polling site, at the county building, 411 Main St., Suite 430, Catskill.

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