The Rally+Rise New York Voter Guide

Hey, New Yorkers: Your vote still counts this year!

Don’t let all this “electoral college” talk fool you—big races are happening across the state, including how you vote for President (more on that in a sec).

And even though we’re in the midst of a pandemic, voting has never been easier—thanks to legislation recently passed by New York’s State Senate and Assembly.

Here’s what you need to know to get voting in New York this election:

When am I voting?

October 24-November 1 is the early voting period.
October 27 is the deadline to submit an absentee ballot application.
November 3 is election day and the deadline to postmark your absentee ballot.

Want to vote early?

  • Early voting runs from October 24-November 1.

  • Your early voting location may be different than your election day voting location; you can look it up here.

  • All voters in New York City should have a received their voter card in the mail with a “Fast Pass Tag” featuring a scannable barcode—bring this card with you when you vote for contactless check-in!

 Want to vote by mail?

  • All New Yorkers are eligible to vote by absentee ballot this election.

  • To do so you must first request an absentee ballot—the deadline to postmark an absentee ballot application is October 27, and the deadline to apply for one in-person at your county’s Board of Elections office is November 2.

  • Details on how to request an absentee ballot in NY are at your county’s board of elections website—details on that process are here.

  • If you live in NYC, you can fill out an absentee ballot application online. Also new this election: New Yorkers can now track their absentee ballots.

  • To return your absentee ballot, you can either

    • Mail it back in. Postage is not pre-paid for the general election, so you will need ~2 stamps.

    • Drop it off at your Board of Elections office. If you drop it off, your ballot needs to be in the oath envelope—which you’ll need to sign and date—but does not need postage affixed.

    • Drop it off at your early voting poll site or your election day poll site—both will have a dropbox at the information table. (In NYC, you can drop it off at any poll site within the five boroughs, FYI!) If you drop it off, your ballot needs to be in the oath envelope—which you’ll need to sign and date—but does not need postage affixed.

  • If you mail your absentee ballot back in, it must be postmarked by November 3 in order to be counted.

  • In New York, you can still vote in-person even if you’ve requested or already sent back your absentee ballot—only your in-person vote will count.

  • New this year: The Board of Elections must notify you if there is a problem with your ballot (say, you forgot to sign your ballot). You’ll most likely be receiving either a phone call or email—and once you do, you’ll have five days to “cure” (ie fix) it. So answer those unlisted numbers!

  • Because of a vendor error, ~100,000 Brooklyn residents received an incorrect ballot (more details here). If this was you, don’t worry: The Board of Elections sent out correct ballots to everyone who was affected by this mistake. (This second ballot should have a red stripe on it, FYI.) You must fill out and use this second ballot, not the first one that was sent to you. If you already filled in the first one, it will not be counted—so make sure to fill out and updated one!

 Want to vote on election day?

  • Poll sites will still be open on election day, despite COVID-19. (But: Wear. A. Mask.) You can find your poll location at your county’s board of elections website.

  • If you live in NYC, you can look up your poll location here.

  • All voters in New York City should have a received their voter card in the mail with a “Fast Pass Tag” featuring a scannable barcode—bring this card with you when you vote for contactless check-in!

This is a lot of info. We know. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, we recommend checking out these voting guides by Common Cause NY and Gothamist.

Who am I voting for?

Want to know what your ballot looks like ahead of time?

You can check out an example (warning: it might not have every single super-local race) at whoseontheballot.org.

 Wondering what some of these seats actually mean?

  • President: Duh.

  • Representative in Congress (aka House of Representatives): They’re working on laws at a federal level.

  • New York Staten Senate Seat: They’re working on laws at the state level. (Think of them as New York’s very own Senate, passing bills that apply only to our state).

  • New York Member of the Assembly: They’re working on laws at the state level. (Think of them as NY’s House of Representatives, passing bills that apply only to our state.)

  • Depending on where you live, you may also be voting for Borough President (they allocate their borough’s budget, appoint members to community boards, and more), City Council (they control NYC’s budget and pass laws), District Attorney (the county’s chief prosecutor), Board of Education (control policies around the district’s public education), and more. It can sometimes be hard to find information on these candidates; do the same sort of Google deep dive you’d do on a new crush and figure out who they are, what they stand for, and how they’ll lead if elected. (Then share with all your neighbors, since they probably don’t know either.)

Want to know which candidates stand out to us?

First things first: New York voters can make an impact this year. That’s because there are a number of races that are actually really important happening in New York.

We’ve pulled together a cheat sheet of some of the most crucial elections happening here. Spoiler alert: There is a race that affects all New Yorkers (and not for the reasons you think), so yes—your vote matters.

But this is just an overview, and there are a lot of races that we’re not able to include. So you should definitely do your own research. Why? First of all, you should know who your’e voting for. It’s also super important to understand this candidate’s position; that way, when they’re elected into office, you can hold them accountable to the promises they made. Besides, we can’t expect our electeds to stand up for us if we don’t engage in the process.

Without further ado, here are the key races happening in New York this election:

  • PRESIDENT: If you’re in New York, remember to vote for Joe Biden on the Working Families Party line. (NY has something called fusion voting, which means that your vote will still count towards Biden’s total, but it sends a message that you believe in progressive issues.)

    This is especially important if you’re meh on Biden and feel like your vote for President doesn’t matter in New York—because this year, it actually does. If the Working Families Party doesn’t get 130,000 votes this year, it will be kicked off the ballot in the next election. (You can read more about this attempt by Governor Cuomo to stifle progressive challengers here.)

  • REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS: New York can help Democrats hold onto the House by winning these keys congressional seats:

    • NY-1: Goroff

    • NY-2: Gordon

    • NY-11: Rose

    • NY-18: Maloney

    • NY-19: Delgado

    • NY-22: Brindisi

    • NY-24: Balter

  • NEW YORK STATE SENATE: We just need to flip two State Senate seats from Republican to Democrat this election to have a veto-proof majority—which means less power for Cuomo (and a greater likelihood that progressive legislation will pass). These are the most important State Senate races:

    • SD 04: Pellegrino

    • SD 22: Gounardes 

    • SD 38: Reichlin-Melnick 

    • SD 41: Smythe

    • SD 42: Metzger

    • SD 43: Nelson

    • SD 46: Hinchey

    • SD 50: Mannion

    • SD 53: May

    • SD 55: Brouk

    • SD 56: Cooney

    • SD 58: Burke

    • SD 60: Ryan

    • SD 61: Berger

  • DISTRICT ATTORNEY & SHERIFF:

    • There are a handful of important DA and sheriffs races in New York that could impact criminal justice measures—The Appeal has a great summary of the key races.

  • COUNTY EXECUTIVE:

Note: The numbers you see above is the district number.