'Definitely quiet': Long Island early voter turnout low, figures show

WASHINGTON — Long Island’s primaries have been a light draw so far in early voting despite intraparty battles for three congressional seats, state comptroller and local contests.

As of late Friday afternoon, there had been a total of 11,771 early votes cast throughout Nassau County, according to the local board of elections. The latest numbers from Suffolk County were through Thursday and showed 4,219 early voters, according to the state board of elections.

Early voting will continue through Sunday, ahead of primary day on Tuesday.

Jim Scheuerman, the Democratic commissioner at the Nassau County Board of Elections, said there really are no "apples-to-apples comparisons" of early voting at this point with previous nonpresidential years, because of various factors.

"But this is definitely quiet," Scheuerman said.

In both counties, the early numbers reflect tiny fractions of their active registered voters.

Figures from the state Board of Elections from February show there are 375,694 enrolled Democrats and 305,580 enrolled Republicans in Nassau County. Suffolk has 352,756 enrolled Democrats and 338,534 enrolled Republicans.

Scheuerman also broke down the early voting numbers by the two congressional districts covering parts of Nassau County where three party primaries are taking place. There were 5,934 early voters in the Nassau parts of the 3rd Congressional District as of Friday — including 4,193 Democrats and 1,741 Republicans.

That is the district now represented by Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove), which stretches beyond Nassau County to parts of Queens and Suffolk. Suozzi himself is facing a Democratic primary challenger, Danielle Welch. But there is also a Republican primary race for his seat.

In the 4th Congressional District — located entirely in Nassau County — two Republicans are vying in a primary for the chance to take on Rep. Laura Gillen (D-Rockville Centre), who does not face a primary.