Early voting season is kicking off. Early voting is just like voting on election day and news 10 took it the polls to find out how things are shaping up.

Early voting runs from October 29 through November 6. Saturday in Niskayuna they saw over 500 voters there.

“This being a big election year, if we did not have the early voting, I cannot imagine the lines we would have on Election Day,” says Joseph Hannan, Election Official with Schenectady County Board Of Elections.

This year New Yorkers are voting for Governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state comptroller and one of the State’s U.S. Senate seats. Also, on the ballot is a proposal to authorize $4 billion of bonds that include climate related projects.

“At this point in our history this is a very, very important election,” says Steve Fletcher.

Folks here have found early voting to be a benefit when it comes to doing their civic duty.

“I do travel a lot for my job, so it gives me another option on voting besides the absentee portion of it. This way my wife and I can continue to vote together, which is important part for us,” says Jerry Corcoran.

“I like to vote at the first opportunity I have because you never know if something’s going to come up and you won’t be able to vote,” says Timothy Bentz.

Joseph Hannan telling NEWS 10 that they were lucky to get ahead of the pandemic induced worker shortage.

“Well, I think the hard part is finding people, enough people who are able and willing. You have to consider that the early voting period is about two weeks,” says Hannan

And that is just the staffing issues. Hannan says some folks get upset over a law he can only follow.

“Every once in a while, someone goes off on us for something I can’t control. The most common thing would be voter ID,” says Hannan

In New York it is not allowed to ask to see an ID at the polls unless identification was not presented at the time of registering to vote. The last day to register in this year’s election was October 14.

Be sure to check with your local Board of Education to learn the specifics on times and locations where you can early vote.