Three candidates for two four-year seats on the Saranac Lake Village Board of Trustees take part in a debate March 10 at the Harrietstown Town Hall. (Enterprise photos — Griffin Kelly)

SARANAC LAKE — No date for the village election has been set yet, as the COVID-19 pandemic has postponed the original March 18 event. But voters can start voting now, by absentee, and can also still register to vote.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo already postponed this election until April 28 before further postponing all village elections indefinitely.

Village Clerk Kareen Tyler said Saranac Lake may end up being able to hold in-person voting eventually, but in the meantime, people can still vote absentee if they want to.

She said the village can send out absentee ballots now, people can fill them out and submit them, and their votes will be counted whenever the election is.

“There will be a cutoff date (for voter registration) at the time that the election date is determined,” Tyler said. “But the election date hasn’t been determined yet, so people can still register to vote.”

The ballot is set, with Fred Balzac (Green), Tom Catillaz (Democrat) and Rich Shapiro (Democrat), running for two four-year seats on the village Board of Trustees.

“The ballot can’t change,” Tyler said. “Everything else is a moving target.”

Shapiro and Catillaz stay in office until the election, as holdovers.

Tyler also said anyone who wants to vote absentee can. Usually people need to fit certain criteria to get absentee ballots, but due to the coronavirus, anyone can apply now. Absentee ballot applications can be found on the village website under “documents and forms.”

The applications can be mailed into the village or emailed to clerk@saranaclakeny.gov. Tyler said this electronic method of applying for an absentee ballot is new.

They can also register with the county they live in: either Essex or Franklin, which split the village in two, with the line running down Shepard Avenue between the Fusion Market and Lakeview Deli. Normally, the cutoff to register is 10 days before a village election.