FYI: The clock is running out on voter registration for this year’s general election. Under state law, anyone planning to vote in the November 4 election, which will most prominently feature a referendum on Mayor Bloomberg’s nonpartisan elections proposal, must turn in a registration application by this Friday, October 10. People who become naturalized citizens after Friday have until the 24th to register. An estimated 25 percent of New Yorkers eligible to vote are not even registered, and critics of the nonpartisan elections proposal—which is being billed as a way to boost voter participation–say the city should first beef up its Voter Assistance Commission, charged with facilitating registration, and allow voters to register the same day they vote. Check out David Jason Fischer’s examination of nonpartisan elections’ impact on voter turnout in the City Limits archive. [10/8/03]