Early voting payouts approved

After delays, nervousness, counties will indeed be getting state assistance

State funds earmarked for early voting expenses will flow to the counties as planned following a brief delay that panicked election officials.

Concerns about whether the promised $10 million would delivered were raised last week when only a fraction of the funding was initially approved by the state Division of Budget, which promised the remaining money would be approved shortly.

The outstanding $7.825 million was approved on Thursday, according to state officials.

“There was never any question that the full $10 million to support early voting would be made available, and the full amount has been approved today,” state Budget Director Robert Mujica said in a statement.

A law approved this year required at least 145 early-voting sites throughout the state. Counties have crafted plans to open 245 sites, including six in Albany County, two in Rensselaer County, three in Saratoga County and four in Schenectady County.

The new law requires counties to maintain at least one polling site for every 50,000 voters. These sites need to be open for nine days leading up to Election Day.

The state BOE’S plan is to provide each county with $15,000 per site and distribute additional funds based on the number of registered voters in the county.

Following the approval of the funding, state Board of Elections spokesman John Conklin said it will proceed with setting up contracts with the Office of General Services so county government can be reimbursed for expenditures associated with preparations for early voting.