VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: New York residents are sending in votes with mail-in ballots
Jackson Cowen: Voters young and old are using the mail-in ballot system to make sure their voice is heard. They all have their own reason for voting. Ida Frank’s purpose goes back generations.
Ida Frank: My history is slavery. My grandfather was a former slave. My great-grandfather was a former slave. So, learning from them, you kind of see the importance of voting.
Cowen: The U.S. Census Bureau says the number of people who vote by mail has steadily increased since 1996. In 2016, 20% of the population used the mail-in system. In 2020, during the pandemic, that number rose to 43%. Frank isn’t the only one in Syracuse using a mail-in ballot. Syracuse University junior Anrav Pokhrel says he values his voice in his home state of Nebraska.
Arnav Pokhrel: So, it’s really important to me to make sure I’m voting where I actually live, and where I spend my summers. And where I spend my winter breaks with my family.
Cowen: One New York resident Jill Vuckovic couldn’t wait for the opportunity to vote.
Vuckovic: Oh for sure. As soon as my ballot came I filled it out and I had it mailed two days later. I wasn’t going to take any chances this year, or any year for that matter.
Cowen: Frank says everyone should fill out their ballot.
Frank: It’s a voice that you have, and if you don’t use it, then you lose it.
Cowen: Jackson Cowen, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Central New Yorkers are using mail-in ballots this election season. Mail-in ballots are a trend that has continued to grow nationally and can be see in Syracuse.
The number of voters using mail-in ballots has gone up across the country since 1996, said the U.S. Census Bureau. That number peaked in 2020, as 43% of voters used the mail-in system.
The system helped people who are unable to get to the polls take part in the election. Despite, not being able to make it to the polls, voting was still important to Warren Klare, a Central New Yorker who lives at Baptist Nursing Center.
“One vote is one in a million. When there’s 1 million people doing their one vote, it makes all the difference in the world. So, it pays to vote, even though you realize it’s only a drop in the bucket, you want to be one of the drops, of the million, in the bucket,” Klare said
The mail-in process allowed Klare to vote in the 2024 election. He uses a wheel chair and was unable to get to the polls. He still wanted to make sure his ballot was counted.
“A lot of people paid with blood and their lives to be able to do it, and if you don’t realize that, if you just think about it, and you realize that one vote is a tremendous privilege and responsibility,” Klare said.
Klare is not the only one using the mail-in system this election season. There are some in the younger generation that are using the same method to vote in their home state.
“It’s really important to me to make sure I’m voting where I actually live and where I spend my summers. And where I spend my winter breaks with my family,” Arnav Pokhrel, a Syracuse University student said.
Pokhrel voted in his home state of Nebraska, while studying in Syracuse, he said.
Mail-in ballots should be postmarked before Nov. 5 and should be received before Nov. 12 in New York, according to the Onondaga County election website.