Albany County Commissioner Allison McLean Lane Details Ballot Safety

As early voting continues across New York, the phones at the Albany County Board of Elections keep ringing with citizens asking questions about how secure voting is.

Voters want to know where to register and where to cast their ballots, but an increasing number of inquiries focus directly on election security, according to Allison McLean Lane, the Democratic Commissioner for the board. Lane told cbs6albany.com that she handled three such security-related calls in a single day.

The persistent worry among callers is whether voting machines can be accessed through the internet. Lane offered a flat denial to those concerns.

“The only part of our process that actually involves wireless communications is the poll pad where we look you up,” Lane said. “That’s the only place.”

Albany County officials reassure voters about early voting security

How Early Votes Are Cast and Secured in Albany County

When voters cast their ballots early in person, the vote is recorded directly on the machine, which also maintains a physical paper backup for auditing purposes.

“It scans in and there’s a memory stick in back that tracks that ballot,” Lane explained.

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Albany County features eight designated early voting locations. However, ballots do not remain at those polling sites overnight. At the end of every voting day, a bipartisan team collects the ballots, locks them securely into a box, and transports them directly back to the board of elections.

“There is absolute security at the end of every day,” Lane said. Once returned, the memory sticks are removed and placed inside the board’s secure vault, which is monitored under 24-hour surveillance.

Surging Turnout Stretches Local Infrastructure

These security measures come as early voting continues to draw heavy participation statewide. During the first three days of the early voting period alone, more than 700,000 New Yorkers cast their ballots, nearly doubling the turnout recorded during the same timeframe in 2022, according to cbs6albany.com.