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Friday, Nov. 6, 2020 VOLUME LXXXV ISSUE IX SINCE 1935 www.oswegonian.com
Voter turnout expected to rise Despite COVID-19, more Americans vote through new methods Rachel McKenna Chief Copy Editor rmckenna@oswegonian.com Just like everything else in 2020, this election season has been extremely different compared to years before. With COVID-19 looming, how to vote was an overwhelming question for most U.S. citizens, especially trying to keep families safe while still participating in this election made for some confusion and misunderstanding. However, this did not stop people from going out of their way to vote. Emotions of every political party are heightened in this election, making the turnout of early voters unlike any other. According to the U.S. Election Project, over 101.3 million people voted before Election Day, including mail-in ballots and in-person polling. This number is already 73% of the voters in the entire 2016 general election. In New York, the total number of people who have voted as of Nov. 5 is over 7.1 million, including returned absentee ballots and inperson voting. According to the Oswego County
Board of Elections, voter turnout this election has increased significantly in Oswego, just as it has nationally. “The numbers are way up for this election. For the General Election last year, we processed a total of 696 voters during early voting,” said Laura Brazak, the Oswego Board of Elections Commissioner. “This year we processed 7,926, we usually get around 2,000 absentee ballots, but because of COVID, we have already received 8,650 returned ballots.” Brazak predicted that Nov. 3, Election Day, will have a massive turnout. “We have 73,930 registered active voters. We’re a little over 20% turnout already,” Brazak said. “In 2016, we had a 69% voter turnout total. I expect we will top that this year.” Voter turnout, volunteering and participation have increased dramatically this election. Young voters are specifically becoming more involved in this election. According to a Harvard Youth Poll, 63% of 18 to 24-year-old respondents answered that they will “definitely be voting” in the 2020 election. However, Vote Oswego, a class centering around campaigning to get SUNY Oswego students involved in voting, has noticed that
participation has stagnated compared to recent years. “[Involvement] is less this semester with Vote Oswego, but the national trend suggests that engagement is much higher,” said Allison Rank, the professor of the Vote Oswego class. “And so, it’s tricky. Normally we have tons of volunteer opportunities, and lots of people come out for events. But I understand why people didn’t want to sit in their rooms by themselves to volunteer with Vote Oswego.” Young voters are known for not participating in elections and not turning out to vote. However, this election has changed that assumption. Although Vote Oswego has not had as much involvement this election cycle, nationally young voters are more involved. “All of the national trends show that students, or young people generally, are paying much more attention in this election,” Rank said. “[They] are much more likely to have volunteered in some capacity around this election, and are much more aware of different issues in the election than they were in 2018 and certainly 2016.”
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Photo provided by Esther Loja via Vote Oswego
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Unlike previous years, early voting has been prominent in part due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and mail-in ballots.
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Oswego’s cinema remains closed, lacks ‘1st-run films’ Kylie Annable Staff Writer news@oswegonian.com Oswego Cinema 7, the local movie theater in Oswego, has been closed since March 17 following an order by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. While Cuomo allowed movie theatres outside of New York City to reopen on Oct. 23, Oswego Cinema 7 is still closed. On Oct. 19, a day after Cuomo announced movie theaters can reopen, Oswego Cinema 7 posted on its Facebook page that it were planning on opening soon. “We are happy to announce that Oswego Cinema 7 will be opening soon,” the Facebook post stated. “More information will be available soon so keep an eye out for our next post.” “I don’t have enough first-run films to open this Friday,” said owner Conrad Zurich in a Palladium-Times interview. “So, we’re pushing it back a week.” Theaters reopening across the state must follow certain guide-
lines mandated by state health officials. These restrictions include a limit on the number of people in the theater, assigned seating and all people in the theater must wear a mask at all times. On top of these restrictions that theaters must follow, counties opening theaters must have a less than 2% infection rate across the last two weeks, and the theaters must have an enhanced air filtration system that satisfies the New York state standards. In the most recent posts on Oswego Cinema 7’s Facebook page, the theater posted safety guidelines from the state that they will be enforcing upon reopening. It has also expressed its pride in collaborating with CinemaSafe. “We are proud to partner with CinemaSafe: a program promoting protocols and guidelines developed and supported by leading epidemiologists to support a safe return to movie theaters,” the Facebook post stated.
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