REGION — While the final results of the U.S. presidential election and many other tight races remain unknown, one thing we do know is that voters showed up this year.

Either in person on Election Day, voting early in person, or by absentee ballot people made sure their voice was heard.

In Sullivan County, the Board of Elections (BOE) is reporting 27,177 early voting and in-person ballots cast, with 9,349 absentee ballots issued. There were 7,475 received as of Wednesday.

The opening of absentee ballots will begin on November 10.

Sullivan County Director of Communications Dan Hust gave a report from BOE Commissioners Lori Benjamin and Cora Edwards yesterday to the legislature's Government Services Committee.

“They want to acknowledge the hard-working, efficient and public-facing Board of Elections team,” Hust said.

The complete unofficial election results were posted to the county's website shortly after 10 p.m. on Election Day, one of the first counties in the state to do so.

“The senior clerks have worked very hard to make sure all the necessary data has been input on a timely basis, while fielding a record number of phone calls,” Hust reported. “The numbers reflect a complex story.”

Early voting was instituted in New York State in 2019. In the last election, the general election in 2019, 1,115 people voted early.

This time around over 6,300 people voted early, according to the BOE.

Hust said they averaged around 700 voters per day during the nine-day early voting period.

Nationwide, nearly 100 million votes were cast before November 3.

This is also a historically high voter turnout. Media reports are saying 2020 turnout is expected to break records, based on projections from Edison Research. It's already on track to surpass 2016's level.

Hust reported that in Sullivan County voter turnout is at around 70.6 percent, which could rise once all absentee ballots are received.