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New York State’s voter registration deadline for the 2020 election is Friday, October 9.
Adi Talwar
Polling Station located in PS41 on Olinville Avenue in the Bronx on Election Day, 2018.New York City has done a decent job of getting citizens registered to vote. According to the city’s Campaign Finance Board, some 87.1 percent of eligible voters in the city are registered, compared with 66.9 percent nationwide.
That still means just under 700,000 people in New York–roughly the entire population of Boston–have the franchise but are not in a position to exercise it. What’s more, disparities exist despite New York’s relatively high registration rate: Virtually all eligible people 65 and up are registered, but less than two thirds of 18- to 29-year-olds are.
There is still time to change those numbers this year: New York State will honor voter registrations forms postmarked on or before this coming Friday, October 9, as well as forms turned in personally at elections offices that day.
Here’s information on how to register, to check your registration status, to find your Election Day polling place, to get information on early voting in New York City and to see who’s running for what.
This is National Voter Education Week, a project of the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition. If you have a question registering or a problem doing so, contact their hotline: Call or text 866-OUR-VOTE or Tweet @866ourvote.
