2024 Election: Early voters smash record for first day in Onondaga County

More than 11,000 people in Onondaga County voted Saturday on the first day of in-person early voting for the 2024 election, according to Dustin Czarny, Onondaga County’s Democratic election commissioner.

More people voted Saturday than any single day of early voting since it started in 2019.

By lunchtime Saturday, turnout had passed the first day of early voting for the 2020 presidential election, he said.

The elections board processed about 1,400 voters per hour; compared to about 1,000 per hour in 2020. In 2020, about 5,000 voters voted the first day, which ended after six hours instead of Saturday’s eight hours. The highest single day of voting before Saturday was 7,541 on the seventh day of early voting in 2020, records show.

Dozens of voters stood in line for up to 45 minutes at DeWitt and Clay town halls while polling places at Syracuse community centers and libraries had little to no wait.

New this year: Voters can check wait times on the county website before they choose a polling place. Unlike Election Day, early voters can cast ballots at any of the 10 polling places. Poll workers can print the appropriate ballot for each voter.

About 42.5% of voters Saturday were registered Democrats. About 32% were Republicans. About 20% were not enrolled in a party, records show. Republican voters showed up for early voting on the first day this year in higher numbers than 2020, when only 24% of first-day voters were Republican.

The 2020 election was the first presidential election to have early in-person voting. Four years ago, about 60,000 people voted over 9 days leading up to Election Day.

Polls are open again Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Early voting continues until Nov. 3.

Find hours and addresses for polling places in Cayuga, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties in our guide to the 2024 election.

A record number of people have registered to vote in Onondaga County. Slightly more than 318,000 people are eligible to vote, records show. Saturday was the last day to register to vote in the 2024 election.