Board of Elections explains offline tabulation and early-vote posting after miscommunication on results

Summary

Cayuga County's elections official told the Ways & Means committee that vote tabulation is done offline, poll-site USB drives are physically transported to Auburn for uploads, and early-voting results are legally held until polls close; the BOE said earlier reporting confusion was a miscommunication.

Keith, the county's Board of Elections official, briefed legislators on how votes are processed and why some counties report results sooner than others. He explained that vote tabulation is performed on offline systems and that USB drives from polling sites are physically transported to Auburn for upload, which creates unavoidable delays in a geographically large county.

"It was miscommunicated," Keith said when asked why some outlets reported near-complete tallies by 9:35 p.m.; he added that early-voting tallies are collected but legally held until after 9 p.m. when polls close. The county posts early-vote counts first and then adds transported poll-site results as they are uploaded.

Why it matters: Legislators said public expectations about how quickly results appear can lead to confusion; the BOE offered to show the closing and upload process to legislators to improve transparency. The committee also approved a resolution confirming pay rates for election workers for upcoming cycles.

Next steps: Keith offered to explain procedures to the full legislature and to convene a roundtable with other counties to compare reporting practices.