Less than 1,250 Rye residents voted ahead of Tuesday’s election — less than one-third of the number of early voters during last year’s presidential race.
Registered Democrats cast 611 votes during the early voting period between Oct. 25 and Nov. 2, nearly twice the number tallied by registered Republicans (329), according to the Westchester County Board of Elections.
Unaffiliated voters cast an additional 300 ballots.
The Board of Elections does not release the breakdown of early voting or absentee ballots until after the polls close at 9 p.m. on Election Day.
As expected in an off-year election, the 1,241 ballot scanned were way down from last year, when 4,083 Rye residents voted early with a presidential race pitting Donald Trump against Kamala Harris on the ballot.
In 2020, 2,378 early ballots were scanned ahead of the presidential election between Trump and Joe Biden — although the country was in the throes of the pandemic.
Typically, Democrats turn out in greater numbers during the early voting period, while Republicans often perform stronger on Election Day.
On this year’s ballot is the race for Rye mayor, with three candidates running for the city’s top elected seat: Republican Bill Henderson, Democrat Josh Nathan, and independent candidate Rick McCabe.
Both party-backed candidates are headlining slates. Henderson is running his All in 4 Rye campaign with council candidates James Fee, Maria Shuck, and Robin Jovanovich. Nathan is running alongside current councilman James Ward, Amy Kesavan, and Marion Anderson for their ticket.
Early voting began in New York state on Oct. 25 at 25 select locations in Westchester County, including the Resurrection-Early Childhood Education Center on Milton Road in Rye.
Meanwhile, in New York City early voting totals topped historic levels with more than 735,000 hitting the polls early to cast votes in the high-profile race for mayor that has drawn national attention. Total turnout is now expected to reach 2 million votes.
The Election Day polls open on Tuesday, beginning at 6 a.m. To find your poll site, click here.
For more of The Record’s election coverage, click here.
