ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — As Election Day approaches, November 8, Monroe County Republican Election Commissioner Lisa Nicolay answered some key questions.

Early voting turnout:

With only a handful of days left to go in early voting Nicolay is pleased with the turnout so far -with 33,000 ballots cast.

“That is way more than last year, not as much as the presidential,” she said. Nicolay added that the sample is too small to make a greater conclusion, as early voting started in New York in 2019.

Absentee ballots:

She says about 10,000 have been returned so far, and is expecting about 5,000 or 6,000 more to come in.

Also, new this year, once you request an absentee ballot, that’s how you have to vote.

Additionally, a New York judge held up a new ruling following a Republican party lawsuit, and absentee ballots will be opened and counted as they come in.

“They will be added in as the live voting gets dropped into election night reporting, and that’s when we’ll drop in the absentees,” she said.

Possible poll worker shortage:

After hiring a full-time recruiter and putting more resources towards training, Nicolay says at point 100% of slots were filled. Callouts accounted for that number being ower than 100%.

“I’m sure we have a few slots that are being filled, but overall we’re in really good shape, we’re 98% full,” she said.

Additionally, she said that the recruiter was finding “creative” ways to get more people signed on as poll workers. She adds that veterans have made a strong showing as poll workers.

If you want to sign on, you can still get trained. You can visit their site here.

Security:

Nicolay says new Monroe County’s ballot security is excellent. And as of now, no extra security be will added on top of the security that is already at polling places.

“People should feel very comfortable, we have not heard any nonsense going on with early voting, so I think we’re pretty well prepared for the usual kind of stuff that happens on election day,” she said.