House observers and memory sticks at Nassau County Board of Elections.

Workers at the Nassau County Board of Elections in Mineola get the back room ready to take in physical ballots when they arrive.

This year, the memory sticks are to be scanned at 18 police precincts and uploaded before coming to the board of elections. In the past, the votes weren't counted until the sticks physically arrived in Mineola. In a hardened side room — without internet access — early voting and absentee ballots have already been counted and should be published shortly after 9 p.m.

A bipartisan pair of observers from the U.S. House of Representatives is on hand.

The results uploaded at the police precincts will be the unofficial count. Then the physical sticks will still be brought to Mineola Tuesday night. The ballot materials come in on a loading dock and then get scanned and taken into a fenced off area. The machines record to two sticks, the second stick will be read for the official count that will take a few days.