LI early voting a record; new voters shun party labels

Daily Point

LI early voters hit a record 370,402

Early voting ended Sunday with a record 370,402 Long Islanders casting ballots, a turnout 67% higher than in 2022 — the last gubernatorial race. Around 191,793 Nassau residents and 178,609 voters in Suffolk cast their ballots in the nine days of early voting, significantly higher than the 123,436 and 98,226 from four years ago.

Registered Democrats dominated the turnout in both counties. In Nassau, about 42.3% of all votes were cast by 81,129 registered Democrats, while 41.6% of Suffolk's votes were cast by 74,261 Democrats.

A total of 125,255 Republicans cast ballots over the last nine days, 68,226 in Nassau and 57,029 in Suffolk. Registered Republicans made up 35.6% of all early votes in Nassau and 31.9% in Suffolk, slightly lower than the 37.1% and 34.7% shares from the two counties in 2022. A voter's registration is not indicative of the party they vote for.

Early votes also accounted for 83,000 votes by unaffiliated or "blank" voters, making up 21% of all votes in Nassau and over 24% in Suffolk. Data received from the Nassau and Suffolk boards of elections also show 26,000 absentee ballots received in Suffolk and around 32,898 received in Nassau. Half of those, or 30,851, were from registered Democrats, 14,434 or 24.5% received from Republican voters, and 12,208 or 20.7% from unaffiliated voters.

— Karthika Namboothiri karthika.namboothiri@newsday.com

Unaffiliated voter registrations jump on LI

Newly released voter enrollment data today shows 2.1 million Long Islanders are registered to vote in this election, including 14,483 more new registrations than in 2024, the most recent presidential election. Of the new voters, 4,813 are enrolled in Nassau County and 9,670 in Suffolk.

Democratic registrations across Long Island dropped 1.8% from 749,216 in 2024 to 735,560, according to state Board of Elections data. The party's drop in registered voters happened largely in Nassau County, which lost 7,639 registrations, while Suffolk, which has more enrolled voters, was down 6,017.

Republican registrations rose marginally — 2,156 across the region. There were 585 more GOP registrations in Nassau and 1,571 in Suffolk. Total registered Republicans now number 647,783, with 306,837 in Nassau and 340,946 in Suffolk. Democrats still maintain an edge with more registered voters on Long Island, but both county executives are Republicans, and the two legislatures are controlled by the GOP.

The more noticeable trend in the data is the 9.3% jump in unaffiliated or "blank" voters, especially in Nassau County, where 36,120 new registrations identified as backing no party. That's almost 10,000 more people than the total number of residents in the City of Glen Cove. In Suffolk County, the number of blanks jumped 19,736 to 344,947 since 2024, bringing the total unaffiliated voter count on Long Island to 658,823.

— Karthika Namboothiri karthika.namboothiri@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Polls apart

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Final Point

Last-minute campaign potpourri shows oddities across the Island

Long Island elections this year feature write-in candidate campaigns, eyebrow-raising endorsements, and money flowing at Dionysian levels thanks to the state's public campaign financing impacting state races.

Despite all this commotion, most voters in Suffolk won't even get an iconic "I Voted" sticker because they cost too much.

Anyway, write-in campaigns are trending in Suffolk, with at least two races being contested by candidates not on the ballot.

Abigail Field, the write-in candidate for Suffolk County clerk, has generated a social media buzz, even if she was a late entry to the clerk election carousel. The election drew attention when current Clerk Vincent Puleo, a Conservative who also runs on the Republican line, was revealed as the owner of a St. James property that housed a foot spa tied to alleged sex acts, according to a Newsday news division story.

In a statement to Newsday back when the story broke in July, Puleo said: "I was shocked and disappointed to learn of serious allegations involving a tenant operating within a shopping center that I am the landlord. ... Illegal activity of any kind will not be tolerated and has no place in our communities."

The Suffolk clerk's race was further roiled when Democratic candidate Anthony Portesy accepted the Conservative Party line for a state Supreme Court, 10th District judgeship in August as a ploy to get off the clerk's race ballot to clear the field for Puleo, part of backroom dealing by political bosses. That infuriated some Democrats and others who mounted competing write-in campaigns.

There's also Chris Padgett, a Libertarian who is running a write-in campaign for county clerk.

One race, one candidate on the ballot. At least two write-in candidates.

Still with us?

The write-in campaign for Field has generated interest among a handful of Suffolk Democrats angered at not having a candidate on the ballot. Nancy Goroff, former Democratic candidate for Congress, made two donations for $1,000 each. And the Leisure Village Democratic Club in Ridge chipped in with $50.

The Southold Town Democratic Committee gave Field $1,000. Remember, Southold Dems are led by Kathryn Casey Quigley, who unsuccessfully challenged county leader Rich Schaffer for control of the party in September. Casey Quigley remains vocal about Democrats needing to have candidates in all races.

Field reported raising $9,590 and spending just under $6K in the most recent filings. Puleo reported an opening balance in the most recent filings of $161,103 and spent almost $52,000 — of which $50,000 was a check to the Suffolk County Conservative Committee.

There were no filings on the state Board of Elections website under Padgett's name.

In East Hampton, where East Hampton Village Mayor Jerry Larsen mounted an unsuccessful primary bid on the Democratic Party line against East Hampton Town Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez this summer, some folks started a write-in campaign for Larsen, who previously told The Point he wasn't actively campaigning but appreciated the support.

In this nutty election cycle, it makes perfect sense that Larsen isn't actively campaigning, but his supporters have a Facebook page for his write-in campaign, even without his explicit support.

There may not be concerted write-in efforts in Nassau this year, but there is at least one candidate on the ballot who is telling people to vote — for his opponent.

Hempstead Town Supervisor John Ferretti is running for reelection and being challenged by Democrat Joe Scianablo and former Lawrence Village Mayor Martin Oliner, who went through the arduous effort of collecting enough signatures to get on the ballot only to backpedal and support Ferretti, a Republican.

Oliner said he ran in the first place to protest overdevelopment in the Five Towns, but when Republicans realized Oliner might peel away enough votes to impact the election, they cajoled him to back down and back Ferretti. There's even an ad in a local newspaper featuring the new BFFs walking side-by-side.

Speaking of Ferretti, his campaign has spent three-quarters of a million dollars this year, according to finance filings with the state BOE. Scianablo? He's spent just under $150,000. Ferretti's got about $130,000 left in the bank compared with Scianablo, who has about $65,000.

Campaign earners reaching the stratosphere this year include Dan Losquadro, the Brookhaven Town Highway Department superintendent who is the Republican candidate for county comptroller. Losquadro dropped an Elon Musk-level $1.2 million on the race while his opponent, Democrat Jon Estreich, spent just under $31,000.

Estreich does report over $52,000 in his campaign account. But Losquadro, a well-connected Republican across the Island, reports having just over $400,000 in his campaign bank account.

Maybe Losquadro's campaign can buy Suffolk voters those "I Voted" stickers.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

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