New Yorkers Register to Vote Before Time Passes by for Federal, State and Local Vote on November Six

Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

You must notify the Board of Elections, in writing, to make any change to your registration (change of address or name). You may send us the change on a Registration application. The Board has developed two programs:

Your residence address determines the particular contests in which you are eligible to vote. Because of the role that one’s address plays in the electoral system, New York State law requires voters to notify the Board of Elections within 25 days of an address change to preserve their voting rights. You can change your party affiliation by obtaining a Voter Registration Form, indicating the change and sending it to the Board of Elections. We will process the information and send you a new voter card reflecting the change in party. You cannot CHANGE your enrollment and vote in the NEW PARTY of your choice in the same year. Please Note: a change of enrollment will go into affect one week following the General Election. The last day to change your enrollment is the same as the last day to register for the General Election (25 days prior to the date of the General Election).

In a Primary Election, only voters registered with one of the parties qualified to hold a primary in New York City may vote to nominate their party’s candidate to run in the general election.Candidates nominated by the parties for each office then appear on the general election ballot, along with any independent candidates who gain access to the general ballot without running in the party primaries.

• The Board of Elections compares its file of registered voters to a file received from the United States Postal Service (USPS) of people who have submitted a change of address. For voters that match, the Board of Elections sends a confirmation notice to indeed verify if the voter has moved.
• Reports received by city/state agencies (Mental Health, Corrections, Health Dept., Motor Vehicles, etc.) as mechanisms for keeping the voter registry current.

Parties You Can Join When You Register to Vote:

• Democratic
• Republican
• Conservative
• Working Families
• Independence
• Green