MONTICELLO, NY — To appreciate 2020’s allure for local voters, all you need is this number: 70.6 percent.

That’s the turnout this year in Sullivan County.

It’s “good for Sullivan County and for New York State as a whole,” said county director of communications Dan Hust at the government services committee meeting on November 5.

He was subbing in for elections commissioners Cora Edwards and Lori Benjamin, who couldn’t make it in. After all, they were pretty busy right then. 

Actually, “those guys have been slammed for I don’t know how many months,” legislator Nadia Rajsz said. 

Via Hust, Edwards and Benjamin publicly acknowledged deputy commissioners Pam Murran and Deanna Rajsz, who posted results to the state website. “We were one of the first counties in the state to do so.” Hust lauded IT too, saying “We were very happy with how the system worked; we had the results up by, I believe, 10 that evening.”

He continued reading. “The numbers reflect a complex story.” 

Registered voters: 49,046

New voters (registered since last November): 4,747

In-person ballots cast: 27,177

Early votes: 6,300 

Days of early voting: 9

Early voters, on daily average: 700

Absentee ballots requested: 9,346. 

Absentee ballots received to date: 7,475

Total votes cast: 34,652

“That’s about a 70.6 percent turnout,” he said. “I believe that number could rise because they could still receive ballots through November 10.”

Seventy-five voting machines went to 32 polling sites, “with [more than] 200 elections inspectors to take care of [more than] 27,000 voters is an enormous task, and it is not over.” 

The tallying of absentee ballots begins on November 10, Hust said, and will go on till completed. Certified results have to be submitted by Friday, November 27, rather than the usual December 8. The state has to get the results to the Electoral College by Monday, December 14. 

Maybe once things have settled down, Board of Elections staff will have time to do normal things like eat and sleep. 

“I did want to say publicly that I did promise them a lunch,” Rajsz said. Deanna Rajsz is Nadia’s daughter.