Happy primary season, New York! Here we have a guide for how to vote in the upcoming primary elections on August 23rd.
The primary elections for the House of Representatives and New York State Senate are scheduled for August 23 this year. Primary elections are used to select a candidate for each political party, so you need to be registered for a party in order to vote in a New York primary election. You can register for a party when you register to vote in New York, or whenever you change your voter registration information. The four recognized parties in New York are the Democratic, Republican, Conservative and Working Families parties. For this year, the deadline to register for a party or change parties is August 11, but you can still vote in the general election on November 8th if you are not registered for a party. The deadline to register to vote in the general election is October 14th, and you can find information on how to register to vote here. The list of candidates running in these primary elections can be found here.
If the primaries feel later this year, that’s because they are! New York State Senate and Congressional primaries are later than usual because of statewide redistricting that happened this year. You can find out more about the reason for the late primary dates here. To find out if you have been redistricted this year, you can use this website to look at the State Senate and Congressional district maps before and after redistricting, or search by your address to find your current district.
Vote early for this primary election between August 13th-August 21st! If you vote early you can skip long lines on election day, and can get voting out of the way! Detailed information on how to vote early is listed here, on the website Vote Early NY.
Absentee ballots are another option for people who will be out of their county on election day, or who are worried about the transmission of infectious diseases such as Covid-19. For those who are planning to vote via absentee ballot, the deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail has passed, but you can still request an absentee ballot in person at your local Board of Elections until August 22nd. In order for ballots to be valid they need to be dropped off at your local Board of Elections or your polling site by August 23rd at latest, or postmarked by August 23rd and received by August 30th if mailed in. If you plan on requesting an absentee ballot, please note that voters who have requested an absentee ballot will no longer be able to vote with a polling machine on Election Day, but they will still be able to vote in person using an Affidavit ballot at their polling place. More information on how to vote via absentee ballot is available here, on the New York Board of Elections website.
If you plan to vote in person on election day, check to see if your polling place has changed using this website, and set a reminder for yourself to vote on the 23rd!
Use this link to find a list of candidates endorsed by the New York League of Conservation Voters, and happy voting!
