Richard Aerni is out early voting. He’s trying to get it out of the way sooner rather than later because he says a lot is on the line.
“You always see in all the polls, price of gasoline, gasoline is the least of [my concerns,]” Aerni said. “So I would say what’s top on my mind would be just keeping our system of government as the founders envisioned it.”
In the first two days of early voting for primaries, more than 52,000 New Yorkers cast ballots.
Typically during the primary election season, especially in non-presidential years, voter turnout is low. State University of New York at New Paltz political science professor Scott Minkhoff says the people who do show up are more concerned with party representation than policy.
“It’s not the case that in a primary election, we usually get people that are voting because they care particularly about an issue that tends to be more of a general election phenomenon,” Minkhoff said.
More often than not, primary opponents share similar values, so little things go a long way.
“It tends to be that when you go out for a primary, particularly if that primary is not heavily contested or if it’s more about personality than it is about issues or style than it is about policy,” Minkhoff said. “That’s the sort of decision that people are making.”
Minkhoff says that looking ahead to the general election, hot button issues will more so help undecided voters decide on their candidate.
Aerni hopes people are paying attention to the process even this early.
“Our system of government, like so much in the world, is fragile and often taken for granted,” he said. “So we need to do our due diligence.”
Early voting continues through June 21. Election Day for primaries is June 23.