“We have to have all of the election watchers on and the custodians working. It’s just like a regular election,” Martin said.

The cost is also about the same as that required for the general election each November.

Martin said all polling places will be open as normal and the hours will be 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., even though turnout for a special election is usually low.

“I understand special elections typically have a light turnout,” Martin said, “but we have to have all of the polling places open as normal.”
 
Though the special election was ordered by Governor David Paterson and each of the two major candidates has raised more than a million dollars to fund his campaign, no additional funds are available from any source to cover the costs of the special election.
 
Martin said that no funds were budgeted for the special election because at the time the current budget was prepared no one could have predicted that Governor Paterson would appoint Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Clinton as U.S. senator from New York.
 
“We’ll just have to find the money somewhere [in the budget],” Martin said.