A voting sign is seen at the North Elba Town House in Saranac Lake on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)

SARANAC LAKE — Over 11,000 votes had already been cast between Franklin and Essex counties — through early and mail voting — before the polls opened on Tuesday, according to the two counties’ boards of elections.

Essex County reported 4,019 votes had been cast early in-person and 2,024 completed mail-in ballots had been received by the board as of 2 p.m. Monday, according to Jen Fifield, the Board of Election’s Democratic Deputy Commissioner.

The numbers — along with Election Day votes — are unofficial until the Board of Elections certifies them after the election. While unofficial, the early in-person votes are final for both counties, as Sunday was the last day for that voting period. The mail-in numbers are not final, as ballots will continue to be accepted by the boards that were either postmarked by Tuesday, Nov. 5 or dropped off in-person at a polling station or the elections board’s office, according to Eric Barney, the Democratic deputy commissioner for the Franklin County Board of Elections.

None of the results are released until after polls closed on Election Day. However, officials are able to provide numbers of how many people have voted each day, and what their political party affiliations are.

Essex County

The early in-person votes were cast along the following partisan lines, according to Fifield.

– Democrat: 1,657

– Republican: 1,398

– Unaffiliated: 731

– Other parties: 233

The mail-in ballots, which include both absentee ballots, were cast along the following partisan lines, according to Fifield.

– Democrat: 812

– Republican: 718

– Unaffiliated: 399

– Other parties: 95

In the 2020 General Election, a total of 19,479 votes were cast in Essex County.

Essex County voters had two locations to vote early in person: Lake Placid and Lewis. Of the two sites, 2,375 votes were cast in Lake Placid and 1,644 in Lewis, according to Fifield. Registered voters could cast their ballot at either location no matter where in Essex County they live.

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Franklin County

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Franklin County Board of Elections officials did not provide an updated partisan breakdown of the votes at press time but said that 3,378 votes had been cast early in person at the county’s one early voting center in Malone, according to Barney. The board had received 2,263 completed mail-in ballots through the end of Sunday, he added.

On Thursday, Oct. 31, Franklin County Republican Board of Elections Commissioner Tracy Sparks said the partisan breakdown was nearly split for the early in-person vote, which totaled 1,794 through Wednesday, Oct. 30. Democrats, at the time, had a slight lead in the early in-person vote, with 859 ballots cast to Republican-affiliated voters’ 852. Unaffiliated voters had cast 389 votes and voters registered with a variety of third parties totaled 44.

At the time, 1,734 completed mail-in ballots had been received by the board, according to Sparks. Democrats accounted for 787 to Republican’s 540. Unaffiliated voters returned 298 votes and voters registered with a variety of third parties totaled 109.

In the 2020 General Election, a total of 19,514 votes were cast in Franklin County.