Absentee ballots in New York would be counted as they arrive to elections officials under a bill being proposed by Democratic Senator David Carlucci.

The measure comes as more than one million absentee ballots have already been returned to elections officials this year amid a wave of ballots. New York officials made it easier to apply for and receive an absentee ballot, creating essentially an end to excuses to get one, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump was running a "reality show" that has run its course, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday told Howard Stern in a wide-ranging interview that touched on the pandemic and his family.

"With Trump, I had an enemy every day," Cuomo said. "He was anti-New York, by the way. He was mad at New York. He hated us."

As Pfizer, Inc. on Monday announced it was close to developing an effective COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Andrew Cuomo in an interview with Good Morning America raised renewed concerns surrounding the Trump administration's distribution plan.

Cuomo has previously knocked the plan, which relies on private-sector pharmacy chains like CVS to distribute a vaccine.

President-elect Joe Biden's transition team pledged to aid state and local governments whose finances have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic as the new administration and its priorities begin to take shape.

Biden on Saturday claimed victory in the election hours after major media outlets projected he had secured 270 electoral votes; President Donald Trump has vowed to fight the outcome in court.

SPECTRUM NEWS VIDEO: Spectrum News is continuing to follow news that the AP is projecting Joe Biden to be the next president of the United States.

This is historic for many reasons, one being that Kamala Harris is projected to be the first woman of color to serve as Vice President. Our Nick Reisman sat down with Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins to discuss this groundbreaking moment.

What does smoking peyote in a Native American sacrament have to do with a Roman Catholic adoption agency in Philadelphia?

Quite a lot, according to Albany Law Professor Vin Bonventre.

Voters in New Jersey, Arizona, South Dakota, and Montana all passed legislation on Tuesday legalizing recreational marijuana.

This means that recreational use is now legal in 15 states, including most of the states that border New York.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is running out of ways to say he won't be joining a Joe Biden administration.

Cuomo called into NY1 on Friday to talk about the latest on the coronavirus pandemic as the presidential election remains too close to call.

The investigation of President Donald Trump's business interests by New York officials won't end if he loses re-election, Attorney General Letitia James said in an interview on Friday.

"Regardless of whether or not an individual sits in a particular office is really irrelevant to our investigation," James told Spectrum News. "Our investigation will continue, because no one is above the law."

The polls showing a potential landslide for Democrat Joe Biden against incumbent President Donald Trump so far haven't been borne out in reality.

Some, including New York Conservative Party Chairman Gerry Kassar think the president's performance came in part from a form of COVID fatigue after months of restrictions, lockdowns and limits on large gatherings.

Democrats are far outpacing Republicans in absentee ballots statewide in New York, an indication final vote totals in several races could tighten in coming days as the ballots are counted.

As of midday on Friday, there were more than 1.4 million absentee ballots sent to Democratic voters and 383,559 ballots sent to Republicans. Among those who are not enrolled in a party, there were 462,441 ballots, according to numbers provided by the state Board of Elections.

SUNY students will not be returning to school after Thanksgiving break, and Governor Andrew Cuomo is now asking private colleges to consider doing the same.

SUNY students will be tested before they go home for Thanksgiving and continue to learn remotely after that. New York’s statewide positive COVID-19 infection rate increased to 1.9%. Cuomo says upstate New York is doing worse than downstate.

A very different kind of campaign fundraising can begin after Election Day.

Campaigns on Thursday began asking supporters to help sustain their bids for office days after voting ended in hopes of gaining office through the absentee ballot count.

Claims made without evidence that the presidential election is marred by fraud were blasted on Thursday by New York Attorney General Letitia James.

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden remain neck and neck in a handful of key swing states were a clear winner is yet to emerge.

New York's minor parties this year faced the challenge of reaching a higher threshold to maintain its ballot status and, potentially, its existence as an ongoing party.

At stake: Reaching at least 130,000 votes or 2% of all votes cast on a party's presidential ticket. Failure to do so would mean removal from the ballot in the next cycle, a potentially expensive petitioning process to get back on and notifying voters enrolled in the party their affiliation has been changed to no party.

According to former federal prosecutor Michael Koenig, a partner in the firm Hinckley Allen, several of the lawsuits that the Trump campaign has brought in swing states are premature.

“We need to count the votes. There are smart voices on both sides of the aisle who are saying the same thing right now. Count the votes,” said Koenig.

Democrats underperformed at every level of government all around the country, while Republicans exceeded expectations.

According to Grant Reeher, a political science professor at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, it’s an indication that voters didn’t receive a clear message from the party.

New York's tax revenue is expected to have lost more than $4 billion compared to the previous fiscal year as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the state's finances.

Revenue is expected to decline by 5.6%, according to a report released on Thursday by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office. The state is seeking billions of dollars in aid from the federal government while a stimulus measure has stalled in Congress since the spring.

New York has seen a 192-patient rise in COVID-19 hospitalizations in the last week, according to numbers released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office on Thursday.

There are now 1,277 people hospitalized in New York in 46 counties. In the last day, hospitalizations have increased by a net of 24 patients. Newly admitted patients stood at 164 people. Twenty four people were confirmed to have died of COVID-19 in the last day.

Interim State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa announced Thursday that all New York State Regents exams set to be administered in January 2021 are canceled.

At this time, no decisions have been made regarding Regents tests set for June and August, as well as any other state assessment programs.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo never expected a blowout for Joe Biden.

"This is a divided nation," Cuomo said on Thursday on WAMC, his first comments since Election Day. "We always knew it was going to be a close election."

Gov. Andrew Cuomo expects a potential Biden administration will push for a new coronavirus aid package to support state and local governments that have been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the details of the measure — including how much New York receives to cover billions of dollars in lost revenue — will likely be up to a negotiation between the possible new president and Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

More than a dozen women in congressional races around the country backed by Rep. Elise Stefanik's political action committee won their races, her campaign said Thursday morning.

The E-PAC contributions are part of a larger push by Stefanik to elect more GOP women to the House of Representatives.

The state Board of Elections will not starting counting the over 1 million absentee ballots returned so far, until at the earliest Friday.

All 213 Legislative seats were up for reelection this year, but results for some of these races is still in limbo.

Ballot counting is underway across key battleground states and giving Joe Biden an edge, but President Trump's campaign is expected to challenge many of these votes in court.

The claim last night that President Trump asserts, without evidence, there's fraud going on that could deprive him of a second term.

Both Democratic Party Chairman Jay Jacobs and Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy joined Capital Tonight host Susan Arbetter on Wednesday with their thoughts on election night.

With two Congressional seats in upstate New York and one on Staten Island leaning toward Republican victories (with the caveat that absentee ballots still need to be counted), Jacobs acknowledged that it wasn’t a great night for Democrats, and he credited the president.

Ten years ago, a narrow race between Democrat Craig Johnson and Republican Jack Martins wasn't decided in the GOP's favor until December.

In 2014, Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk narrowly squeaked out a victory over Republican George Amedore in a race that was not decided until well into the legislative session.

Nick Langworthy was perhaps the happiest New York Republican chairman on the day after Election Day in at least a decade.

And Langworthy has a lot to be happy about. The enrollment numbers are indeed gloomy for Republicans statewide. But the down ballot results, if they hold, are good for a party that many expected to lose big with President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket.

The dust is yet to settle in the vote count nationally and in New York. Absentee ballots, of which there were more than 2 million sent to voters in New York alone, won't be opened until later this week.

So that makes it difficult, amid an election conducted during a pandemic, to get a good sense of what happened last night as many results remain inconclusive. Still, there are emerging developments in New York that will have some consequences going forward.

The Working Families Party and the Conservative Party say they have achieved enough votes on their presidential ticket to retain ballot status into the new election cycle.

The development is a victory for both parties -- which have sought to tug the Democrats and Republicans to the left and right respectively -- amid a new and more difficult threshold for votes.

All 213 Legislative seats were up for re-election this year and while it is too close to call still for a few of the major races, it is looking to be a disappointing election for Senate Democrats.

Democrats needed two more seats to gain a supermajority but they could end up losing between 4-5 Senate seats, possibly more, according to the State Board of elections website.

The fate of New York's budget, its school spending, and even whether it increases taxes on the rich, for once, doesn't hinge on what happens within the state's borders.

It depends on what happens in Maine. Or Colorado. Or Florida. Or Pennsylvania.

Here's a data point to keep in mind if you want to go to bed early Tuesday night, but don't want to miss any key results: More than 2.5 million absentee ballots have been sent to New York voters. And as of Friday, more than 1.2 million have been returned.

Some of these voters may have cast their ballots in person either on Election Day or during early voting. Some may have decided to null their absentee vote and vote in person.

Robocalls to voters have warned them against going to the polls today, some darkly hinting that it is unsafe to do so.

The reports of the calls have become so concerning that New York Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday afternoon said she had opened an investigation into the calls. Voters who have received the calls should contact her office, she said. The state attorney general's office has issued subpoenas to investigate their source.

Let's jump ahead a year. Where does the Working Families Party plan to make a difference in 2021?

The party on Tuesday morning in a memorandum by State Director Sochie Nnaemeka signals it plans to take an active role in municipal races and in state legislative policy.

It’s cliche at this point to say this is an Election Day like no other, given the coronavirus pandemic and the general sense of urgency for those on both sides of a bitterly divided nation.

But in New York, this is a very unusual day, too: more than 2.5 million New Yorkers have already cast their ballots in the first year early voting has been held in a presidential election year. There are millions of absentee ballots that have been sent to voters. The outcome of many races potentially won’t be certain for days or even weeks after today.

Cities around the country are already starting to prepare for potential protests as soon as the polls close on Tuesday night.

In Los Angeles, Rodeo Drive will be on lockdown for two days starting on election night, and in New York City, businesses are boarding up their storefronts once again.

It's the year 2002: A Republican has been re-elected governor for the third time in a row. A year earlier, a Republican replaced a Republican New York City mayor. The GOP is in firm control of the New York Senate. Sure, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer dethroned Al D'Amato and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is an up and comer, but 2006 feels like a long way off for Democrats.

That was, in some respects, the high water mark for Republicans in New York as a statewide force. Since then, there's been a stagnation in enrollment and statewide victories. These are demographic problems that for the moment seem impossible for the party in New York to overcome.

A poll released last week by The Education Trust–New York reveals significant concerns among parents from low-income backgrounds and parents of color about the quality of remote learning, even as their children are more likely to be learning remotely.

According to Ian Rosenblum, executive director of The Education Trust-New York, the disparities between education in low and high wealth communities has been exacerbated by remote learning. One reason why? Higher-income parents are more likely to be supplementing their child’s education with tutoring, or with “learning pods” outside public school options.

Upstate New York is in for a long post-pandemic recovery process, according to Unshackle Upstate, a non-partisan education and advocacy coalition made up of business and trade organizations. One of the strategies Unshackle is promoting is the creation of an upstate caucus.

“Several years ago there was a group of lawmakers from Long Island known as the Long Island Nine. They protected Long Island’s interests,” Unshackle chairman Brian Sampson told Capital Tonight. “I would like to see something similar for upstate New York.”

Voters in New York should be prepared for the results of elections not being definitive until days, or perhaps even weeks, after Tuesday, the good-government group Common Cause on Monday said.

On traditional election nights, the votes cast that day can provide an idea of not just who is "ahead" in the counting, but often close to a reasonably definitive result of the final outcome once all votes cast are counted.

Capital Tonight asked several scholars about post-election scenarios that scare the hell out of them.

Four academics responded to our request. Here’s what they told us, starting with an important reminder, and a post-election timeline:

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday once again assailed the federal government's planned distribution of a potential COVID-19 vaccination after officials signaled they would seek personal identification numbers of patients.

Cuomo in a conference call said he was concerned the seeking of personal identification numbers could lead federal agencies to track undocumented immigrants.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a robocall released on Monday urged Long Islanders to re-elect Sen. Jim Gaughran, a Democrat who won a key district two years ago.

"Jim Gaughran is a great leader for Long Island," Cuomo says in the call. "I've worked with him personally; he's doing a great job."

There are now more New York voters who decided to not enroll in a party than there are registered Republicans in the state, newly released numbers from the state Board of Elections show.

The numbers, released Monday, show there are 2,744,859 active Republicans in New York compared to 2,750,309 active voters who did not enroll in party. Democrats now have more than six million registered voters in the state.

More than 2.5 million New Yorkers have cast their ballots early this year after nine days of early voting, according to preliminary numbers from the state Board of Elections.

The final day of early voting was on Sunday, the first year it was offered in a presidential election. There were 7.8 million votes cast in the 2016 presidential election.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday outlined a new travel rule for those coming into New York amid rising coronavirus cases across the country.

Gone is a travel quarantine advisory for individual states that required travelers entering New York to isolate themselves for 14 days.

Beyond the sound bites alleging “Balter’s healthcare plan is extreme” and “Katko voted to end the ACA”, the two candidates in the neck-and-neck race for the 24th Congressional District have different perspectives on two tenets of healthcare: prescription drug pricing and pre-existing conditions.

Both say they want to lower the cost of prescription drugs; both say they want to cover pre-existing conditions, but each sees a different path to getting there.

The grim news was laid out in a report released Friday afternoon by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's budget office: The pandemic has cost New York $63 billion in revenue through 2024 and the state will need federal assistance.

The mid-year state budget report estimated the state's main general fund saw a $14.9 billion decline and a 15.3% loss in tax receipts since the original budget estimate was released in February.

Democratic Paul Tonko is seeking his seventh term this year, running on a decade of accomplishments in Washington ranging from new safety legislation for limousines and measures designed to boost the horse racing industry.

"We've done limousine reform as a measure and was able to secure bipartisan, bicameral support," Tonko said. "The same is true for our Horse Racing Integrity Act."

Two years ago, Democratic Congressman Antonio Delgado won a battleground race, unseating Republican John Faso. Since then, Delgado says he's focused on issues like farms in the 19th House district.

"Being able to deliver and help our family farmers with legislation that became law in a pretty divisive time, for me, was very impactful," Delgado said.

The federal government's plan for the distribution of a potential coronavirus vaccine is "deeply flawed" Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday said.

President Donald Trump administration plans to distribute private-sector pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, a plan that was detailed by the White House in a conference call with the nation's governors. Cuomo has pushed the White House to release more information on its vaccine distribution plan once one is available.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand later today will endorse the re-election of Democratic state Sen. Jim Gaughran to a Long Island district.

Gaughran is running for a second term in a district he helped to flip in 2018, giving his party a comfortable majority in the chamber.

A new seat belt law is set to take effect in New York on Sunday, requiring passengers in the back of livery and for-hire vehicles to buckle up.

The seat belt law comes after a decade of rear seat fatalities in New York. Over the last 10 years, 296 unbuckled rear seat passengers over the age of 16 were killed in New York state while 25,527 were injured, according to AAA.

The independent expenditure committee backed by the New York League of Conservation Voters this election cycle has been supporting two incumbent Democrats and two challengers in battleground races in the state.

The group is releasing digital ads and sending mail to tout the support -- or in the case of incumbent Republicans their opposition -- to a measure designed to shift the state to renewable energy in the coming decades in order to combat climate change.

Democrats in the State Senate currently hold the largest majority in over a century, with 40 out of 63 members.

In 2018, Democrats took control of the Senate for the first time in more than 100 years.

A few weeks ago, Alexander Horwitz, executive director of New Yorkers United for Justice told Capital Tonight that the current system of parole in New York is racist, costly, and broken.

“When you’re defending a system that sends a person of color to prison for drinking a beer or for missing a single appointment, you're not making a case for public safety. You're making a case for mass incarceration,” Horwitz said.

A record number of absentee ballots are expected to be cast this year, making for an unpredictable and uncertain outcome for many races in New York after the polls close.

And often in very tight races, those ballots are reviewed by election attorneys, challenged and potentially rejected.

The story of New York every presidential election cycle has been virtually the same for the last generation: The state has little influence in the presidential race itself, but is home to multiple swing districts that could play a major role in determining the balance of power in Congress.

And that's once again the case this year. There are a handful of potentially tight races in parts of Upstate New York including the Syracuse area and the Mohawk Valley as well as on Long Island and on Staten Island.

The coronavirus pandemic, and efforts to expand voter access to absentee balloting, may have led to an unexpected spike in voter participation in school votes earlier this year, a report released Thursday by Comptroller Tom DiNapoli's office found.

Voter participation in school budget votes statewide tripled to 1.6 million votes this year, which came amid efforts to limit the spread of the virus, closing non-essential businesses, schools and other large gathering areas.

Democratic state Senate candidate John Mannion is getting the backing of the political action committee formed by Airbnb in his bid for an open seat in the Syracuse area.

Mannion is a teacher, but he is also a "superhost" with the company, which provides online rentals and bookings.

An inquiry by the Department of Justice into how New York and other states led by Democratic governors handled nursing home policy during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic is timed with the election season, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday said.

And the governor blamed President Donald Trump and the federal government's response to the virus.

Wednesday marked the busiest day of early voting since it began on Saturday in New York, with 325,426 people casting ballots statewide.

Voting has increased virtually every day since Sunday, when 210,245 people voted. Since then, the number of voters at polling places has quickly climbed.

Hillary Clinton will make an appearance at a virtual fundraiser for Democrat Dana Balter in the final days of the competitive race in the 24th congressional district in Central New York.

The fundraiser, scheduled for 6:15 p.m., will also feature EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock and candidates Christina Finello, Gina Ortiz Jones, and Christy Smith. Like Balter, they are running to flip Republican-held House districts this year.

State lawmakers this week introduced a bill designed to protect possessions kept in storage units from being put to auction for the duration of the coronavirus pandemic as customers struggle to pay the unit's rental fees.

The measure was introduced after a wave of storage unit auctions were held in New York during the pandemic.

New York’s 21st Congressional District is one of the largest geographically in the Eastern United States.

This primarily Republican district encompasses Clinton, Franklin, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Hamilton, Essex, Warren, Washington, Fulton and parts of Saratoga and Herkimer counties, stretching all the way up to the Canadian border.

If you looked at housing sales on Long Island in the 1940s and 50s, you would see that the vast majority of homes were sold to white people, and almost none to people of color.

If you viewed that statistic in a vacuum, you might think that Black people simply didn’t want to live in the suburbs. But if you viewed it through the lens of Critical Race Theory, which considers the law in how racial disparities emerge, you would discover that the reason Black families didn’t move to Long Island was because of racism. Specifically, an insidious confluence of redlining and a clause in some standard Long Island leases, which stated a home “could not be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race."

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul in a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday said an expansion of early voting should be considered in New York, as more than 1 million voters since Saturday have cast ballots.

"I think we can take this back and see about the hours," Hochul said. "In fact some counties are already adjusting their hours."

In June, the state legislature unanimously passed a bill, sponsored by Assemblyman John McDonald and Senator Neil Breslin, that would permanently prohibit the burning of toxic fire-fighting foam called AFFF. The foam contains the same PFAS chemicals found in Hoosick Falls.

The legislation passed was limited to "certain cities," particularly Cohoes, New York, where a company called Norlite has been burning the material in its incinerator next door to a public housing complex.

Governor Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday urged New Yorkers to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones virtually over concerns family trips could spread the coronavirus.

"I think my personal advice is you don't have family gatherings even for Thanksgiving," Cuomo said in a conference call. "My personal advice is the best way to say I love you, the best way to say I'm thankful for you, that I don't want to endanger you and I don't want to endanger our family and our friends and I don't want to endanger you."

Political ads this time of year can be exhausting, many of them warning of the dire consequences of one candidate prevailing over the other in already stressful election season this year.

But two ads in New York are serving up a version of decaf coffee this election cycle.

City and county governments will be empowered to set mask wearing mandates in schools, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer had made the request, which Cuomo is granting statewide.

New Yorkers turned out to the polls in higher numbers on Monday than they did either day over this past weekend as nearly one million votes have been cast since Saturday.

All together, there have been 997,171 people who have cast their ballot the first four days of early voting, according to the most recent numbers from the state Board of Elections. This is more than 5% of the 11.7 million registered voters in New York.

The Real Estate Board of New York in the last week has made a handful of modest donations to Democratic candidates and an incumbent in the state Senate, Board of Elections records show.

The group donated $10,050 to Democratic challenger Karen Smythe, who is running to unseat Republican Sen. Sue Serino in the Hudson Valley. Sen. Kevin Thomas, facing a stiff re-election challenge after his first term, received $1,080. Democrat Lauren Ahearn, who is running for an open seat on eastern Long Island received $11,800.

President Donald Trump next week hopes to be the fourth president in a row re-elected to a second term. An exclusive Spectrum News/Ipsos poll asked residents of his former home state of New York how they feel about key issues Trump has impacted over the last year.

The president received low marks from New Yorkers for the recent New York Times reporting around his taxes: 47% have a less favorable view of him as a result.

COVID-19 cases are surging once again across the country, with thousands of new cases being reported every day.

Several clusters have broken out across New York in recent weeks and while officials have worked hard to keep them mostly contained, it raises the persistent question that has hung in the air since June.

California has been added to New York's 14-day travel quarantine advisory. State officials are also discouraging non-essential travel to Massachusetts, Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday said.

There are now 41 states and territories New York officials have urged travelers to quarantine themselves for 14 days upon entering New York. Non-essential travel to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut is also being discouraged.

The number of people casting early votes on Monday accelerated, with 290,445 New Yorkers heading to polling centers across the state, according to unofficial Board of Elections data.

The Monday voting exceeded votes cast on the first two days of early voting in New York on Saturday and Sunday, when 212,243 and 210,245 people voted respectively.

The slim chance of a coronavirus stimulus measure before the November 3 general election was ended on Tuesday as the U.S. Senate adjourned until November 9.

The adjournment of the Senate by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ended the possibility of a pre-election relief bill that could have led to money for individual taxpayers, further relief for small businesses continuing to struggle during the pandemic, and billions of dollars in aid for state and local governments.

The State University of New York plans to test 140,000 students for COVID-19 over a 10-day period leading up to Thanksgiving, higher education officials on Tuesday announced.

The move is meant to reduce the possibility of sending COVID-19-positive students back to their hometowns across New York ahead of the holiday weekend.

The federal government this week touted a plan to send more than 5.8 million point-of-care rapid tests to New York as COVID-19 cases begin to rise once again across the country.

The tests can produce a coronavirus infection diagnosis in as little as 15 minutes and will be distributed by state officials. The tests will be used for K-12 students, teachers, nursing home patients and staff, as well as colleges and those who work as essential first responders.

The NFIB this week is awarding 13 state lawmakers with its Guardians of Small Business designation amid stiff headwinds for small business owners in New York and around the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The award was given to six members of the Senate and seven Assembly members in recognition of their voting record, all Republicans.

The confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court was hailed a victory on Monday evening by New York Republicans and blasted by Democrats as a potentially larger fight over the judiciary looms next year.

"Tonight, we made history— Amy Coney Barrett was just officially confirmed by the U.S. Senate and she is awaiting her swearing-in as we speak," New York Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy wrote in an email to GOP supporters in the state, which also doubled as a fundraising appeal. "This is a tremendous day for America and for our Constitution."

This is the first time New Yorkers have had the opportunity to vote early in a presidential election and many took advantage of this opportunity.

Around 422,166 New Yorkers cast their ballots this weekend, according to preliminary numbers released by the State Board of Elections.

Most New Yorkers have a better understanding of the Black Lives Matter movement and believe Black Americans do not receive equal treatment to white people living in our country.

But they are split over the solutions presented by elected officials, including a law that ended cash bail requirements misdemeanors and non-violent felonies.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday said he would be in favor of "an entire redesign" of the New York City Board of Elections after long lines and delays on the first two days of early voting this weekend.

"I think the New York City Board of Elections did a terrible job – a terrible job," Cuomo said on Monday in a news conference.

Hospitalizations in New York have climbed to 1,059 cases due to the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday announced, as clusters of cases continue in the Southern Tier, Hudson Valley, and parts of New York City.

The hospitalization total is the highest since June and the fourth day in a row the number of hospitalized patients was above 1,000 cases in New York.

A political action committee funded by an education reform group is spending millions of dollars aiding two Democrats in Long Island state Senate races.

The group New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany so far has spent $1.6 million in support of incumbent Democrat Kevin Thomas, a freshman facing a competitive re-election bid this year.

Masked and waiting in line for hours in increasingly crisp October weather, more than 200,000 New York voters cast early ballots on Saturday, the first day of early voting in New York.

It was the first time New Yorkers in the modern era cast early ballots in a presidential election since a new law took effect last year.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday seized on comments from White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that the coronavirus cannot be controlled, accusing the Trump administration of capitulation amid the ongoing pandemic.

Meadows on Sunday said, "we can't control the virus" amid rising cases in parts of the country. New York, too, is seeing COVID cases in parts of New York City, the Hudson Valley and Southern Tier regions.

It's an election year like no other and New Yorkers this year plan to make their voices heard at the ballot box in a variety of ways.

And an exclusive Spectrum New/Ipsos poll found 75% of New Yorkers surveyed plan to cast a vote this year. But how will they do it?

Over the past 40 years, there has been very little election fraud in the United States, and the fraud that has taken place is limited to a few individuals in local elections.

But because of persistent claims that the election will be rigged, Spectrum News wanted to speak with an expert on voting from the Brennan Center for Justice.

Republican Rep. Tom Reed's office on Friday said a dead animal and a brick with the name of a family member was left at the congressman's home in Corning.

"Today, my family and I were threatened at our home in Corning," Reed said in a statement. "The cowards used a dead animal and a brick with a family member’s name on it to try to intimidate us. We assure everyone such threats only energize us to stand stronger."

New York state should sue the Trump administration over a lack of state and local government aid during the coronavirus pandemic, Assemblyman Joe Lentol on Friday said.

A COVID stimulus measure that could potentially provide billions of dollars in aid to New York's state and local governments remains in limbo in Washington amid disagreements over the size and scope of the measure as well as whether state governments should be helped.

While the 2020 elections have been called the most important in our lifetime, according to Jennifer Wilson, deputy director of the League of Women Voters, voter registration is down because of COVID-19.

You can still register.