WCBS-TV is reporting that there are 54,000 paper ballots from Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Staten Island to be opened, an unknown number from Queens, and 14,000 absentees in so far. I don't know why the absentee total is down from others' 19,000 estimate.
Yes, this is why it is all up in the air. Plus the paper ballot voters, and in particular, the absentee voters, may have a different voting pattern from the balance of the ballots. It is amazing how low the turnout is. That tends to be the way with New York state primaries. Few care about them much for some reason.
That's what happens with off-year elections and their primaries. They really should link things like this and NJ/VA-Gov to the presidential cycle. Having regular positions scheduled to an election time when 60% to 75% of the electorate won't show up is a back-handed way to keep things in 'order' or focus.
Or people can get informed and learn that there is no such thing as an "off year" election.
That kind of ties into what
Paul Weyrich was hinting at when he said elections are not won by a majority of the people (51% on 25% turnout = 12.75%, 51% on 75% turnout = 38.25%) but the whole 'get informed' thing seems like a better argument for a bicameral legislature than for an election date that's most likely going to have voter turn-out of 20-35%.
I mean the idea of completely staggered elections for different levels of government (federal one cycle, state the next cycle, and local the next) seems interesting but I think higher turn-out is more important than that kind of separation. It's not like the important issues are going to disappear if the election is on a date when more people vote.
