More than 50,000 cast ballots during early voting

More than 50,000 voters, or about 4%, cast their ballots early in Suffolk County ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections.

On the North Fork, the polling station at the Riverhead Town Hall drew voters in the key races for supervisor and Town Board, along with the County Legislature battle between Democrat Greg Doroski and Republican incumbent Catherine Stark. 

According to Southold Town Democrats, 3,660 of 18,849 registered voters came out early in Southold as of Oct. 31. In Riverhead, 2,198 of 24,417 took part in early voting.

Turnout over the early voting period from Oct. 25 through Nov. 2 was fairly steady throughout the county, with a weekend surge bringing more than 14,000 voters to the polls. 

Sunday saw the largest single-day totals, with 3,270 Republicans and 2,302 Democrats voting.

Overall, Democrats led with roughly 21,000 ballots cast, Republicans followed with nearly 17,500, and independents totaled about 10,600, according to officials. 

Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard is running for reelection against Jerry Halpin.

The candidates running for two open seats on the Riverhead Town Board include incumbents Ken Rothwell and Bob Kern, and newcomers Kevin Shea and Mark Woolley.

North Fork voters can still find their designated voting sites for Tuesday at voterlookup.elections.ny.gov.

The Riverhead News-Review published endorsements in all the race last week.