There are still six days left in the nine days of early voting. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.

The votes collected so far and reported here represent unofficial, machine numbers.

The state had a total of 51,458 early votes cast this weekend — 32,629 on Saturday and 18,829 on Sunday, according to the state Board of Elections in Albany.

Nassau County on Long Island had the biggest turnout with 5,273 early votes, while counties such as Allegany and Washington had smaller turnouts with 41 and 38, respectively. These are just straight numbers, not proportions of registered voters. County populations and what races are on the ballots play a factor in how many people show up for early voting.

Bruce Gundersen of Keene takes a ballot from poll worker Cindy Heald of Elizabethtown at the Essex County Public Safety Building in Lewis Monday afternoon. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

This is also an election year focusing on local and county races. More voters are expected for next year’s presidential and congressional primaries.

State Board of Elections Deputy Director of Public Information Cheryl Couser said, “Early voting was implemented smoothly, and the board received positive reports from counties around the state. The voters seem to be responsive to it.”

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Essex County

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Voters fill out ballots during the state’s first early voting period at the Essex County Public Safety Building in Lewis Monday afternoon. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

A total of 75 Essex County residents voted early this past weekend — 44 on Saturday and 31 on Sunday — at the Public Safety Building in Lewis.

County Board of Elections Democratic Commissioner Sue Montgomery-Corey said early voters gave generally positive feedback on their experiences.

“It’s been very smooth so far,” she said. “I have to credit our staff at the board of elections. We didn’t know what to expect as far as turnout goes, but like anything new, it takes a while for people to know it’s happening.”

“We had no issues with our machines,” Essex County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Allison McGahay said.

The early voters in Essex County came from Keene, Westport, Willsboro, Jay, Wilmington, Moriah and Chesterfield.

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Franklin County

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As of noon on Monday, Franklin County had logged 85 early voters, with 36 showing up on Saturday, 26 on Sunday and 23 on Monday.

The location for early voting is at the courthouse in Malone, in the north end of the county.

County Republican Commissioner of Elections Tracy Sparks said earlier this month that though she and her fellow Democratic Commissioner Brandon John Varin would’ve liked a southern location for early voting, it was not in the cards this year because of security concerns and a lack of the finances needed to run a second location.

Eight of the 85 voters who have early voted so far were from the southern end of the county — Tupper Lake, Harrietstown, Franklin, Brighton and Santa Clara.

Sparks and Varin said there have been “no surprises” with the new process so far and that voters were happy to get their ballots cast before the rush of Election Day.

Neither was enthusiastic about whether early voting has been a success, though. Sparks said her measure of success is if early voting increases voter turnout. That full number can’t be known until the end of Election Day.

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Money needed

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Maintaining an early voting facility for nine days takes plenty of work, storage, security, internet access and money. County budgets were already set by January when the state legislature approved early voting. To help out with the process, the state Division of the Budget issued a $10 million Aid to Localities grant among the 62 counties, divided according to county populations. Essex County received $28,645, and Franklin County received $28,705. At this point, it’s unclear whether the state will grant this money again next year, when there will be 27 required days of early voting for the 2020 primary and general elections, three times the number of days as this year.

The state DOB did not immediately respond to an inquiry on whether counties would receive more Aid to Localities grand funding. Representatives from state and county boards of elections are unsure, too.

“There has been no indication that this early voting grant is happening more than for the first year the governor implemented it,” Sparks said. “Going forward I have no idea what the intentions of the state are.”

Sparks and Varin said they have around $6,000 left over from the Aid to Localities grant and the capital grant for electronic poll books. That money will roll over to be spent next year. That is only around 10% of the approximately $66,000 they received originally.

Sparks said that if Franklin County does not get additional state funding next year, she would not rule out having a second early voting location but that it would be problematic.

Montgomery-Corey said the board got to use the Public Safety Building in Lewis for free and that the board is currently discussing whether it would like to add more voting facilities for future elections.

“Having one site can be tough for folks in the southern and western ends of the county,” she said. “I’d like to see us do something that includes other parts of the county more effectively.”

At the county Board of Supervisors’ Ways and Means Committee meeting Monday, Minerva town Supervisor Stephen McNally requested a breakdown of where early voters were coming from so the county can gauge where a second early voting station could be useful next year.

State Board of Elections spokesperson John Conklin said the current Aid to Localities money was a one-time deal, and he can’t speak to whether it will be renewed next year.

“The amount of time for early voting is one of the major obstacles,” he said. “Local boards were required to acquire poll sites for nine days instead of just one. It was a major undertaking.”

Early voting requires finding facilities, paying election inspectors and, in some cases, purchasing electronic polling machines and teaching the inspectors how to use them.

“There wasn’t a lot of time for local boards to do all that,” Conklin said, “and it wasn’t clear whether any additional funds would be available.”

Couser said many counties’ boards of elections are expected to revisit their staffing and budget for early voting procedures for 2020.

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Staff Writer Elizabeth Izzo contributed to this report.