Early Voting Is Underway For New York’s 2026 Special Elections

We're just a few weeks into 2026, and the annual election cycle has started off with a bang. Empire State residents have the opportunity to fill three seats in the New York State Legislature after some important politicians moved into new offices on January 1st.

At the start of the new year, two Senators and one member of the Assembly won election to new jobs. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, Sean Ryan, and Zohran Mamdani all got new jobs in government this year and since they had to leave ther old offices in the Legislature, the people of the 47th and 61st New York Senate Districts and the 36th New York Assembly District have a chance to elect new representation for the rest of this year in a special election that's set to happen on Tuesday, February 3, 2026.

Like with all elections in New York since 2019, residents of the Empire State have a chance to vote early to fill these offices, and it's important that you take the time out to vote if these in one of these three legislative districts.

Jeremy Zellner & Dan Gagliardo Are Battling For New York's 61st Senate District Special Election

With Sean Ryan becoming the new Mayor of Buffalo, his seat in the New York State Senate is up for grabs. Now, while several people have announced they're running in the general election this fall, there are two folks going head-to-head to fill the seat temporarily.

Former leader of the Erie County Democratic Committee, Jeremy Zellner, is facing Amherst businessman Dan Gagliardo. The winner of this race will only fill the seat temporarily until the end of the year and would have to run again in the general election if they want to serve a full two-year term.

Early Voting In New York Is Available For The 2026 Special Elections

Starting on Saturday, January 24, 2026, and running through Sunday, February 1, 2026, residents of the impacted Senate and Assembly Districts can vote early. Over the 10-day period, polling locations will be open every day for people to cast their vote.

All over the state, there are dozens of different locations where people can cast their vote early. In Erie County, New York, you can cast your vote at any of the 15 separate locations in Erie County, with 11 of them within the City of Buffalo limits.

The NYS Elections website has a complete list of every early voting location in New York State for the districts that have elections.

If there is one thing that we should have learned from the 2024 and 2025 elections, it's that voting is important and can literally impact your life.