Albany County officials reassured voters about early ballot security

Albany County elections officials worked to reassure voters about the security of early ballots amid a surge in questions to the Board of Elections. Democratic Commissioner Allison McLean Lane said voting machines are not connected to the internet, that each vote is recorded on the machine with a paper backup and a memory stick, and that ballots cast at any of the county's eight early voting sites are locked and returned daily by a bipartisan team to a secure vault under 24-hour surveillance. More than 700,000 people voted early in New York in the first three days of early voting this year, nearly double the number from the same period in 2022.¹