New York state passed a law this year allowing residents to vote early, instead of waiting in the sometimes-interminable lines that stretch around polling places during hot elections.
The early voting period started Saturday October 26, and runs until November 3, though you can’t vote early every day during that period. See the calendar below.
This is an important election year, even though there aren’t many candidates on the ballot. Public Advocate is the only citywide race right now. But there are ballot questions that could have a big impact on elections in the future, including one that could give New York “ranked-choice voting”. “In an RCV electoral system, voters would be able to rank their top five candidates for each position; the candidate who receives the most first-choice votes would win,” according to Curbed. To learn more about those, check out Curbed’s election guide.
Election Day itself is on November 5, and the polls are open on that day from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.
You’ll be assigned an early voting spot based on your address (you can’t just go to any one), so be sure to plug in your address to find out where to go. You can find your voting location info at this website. The full list of spots in Manhattan is below. If you do vote early, let us know how it went!
vote early, vote often!
Vote NO on question #2.Show your police you give a DAMN for them.
Giving a damn for honest police is entirely consistent with disciplining bad cops who perjure themselves and oversight for higher police officials who look the other way. Vote YES on Question 2 to support good cops.
This is cool but check this out: https://thehardluckshow.libsyn.com/the-hard-luck-show-episode-020-with-noah-levine
Outside New York City many counties have multiple early voting places and permit voters to use any of them. Of course the City Board of Elections is asleep at the switch as usual.
Here’s an accounting of which local organizations recommend voting FOR and AGAINST each of the five ballot proposals: https://www.nyccfb.info/nyc-votes/vgwelcome/general-election-2019/ballot-proposals/?languageType=English (TL;DR: Common Cause, Robert Jackson, and The New York Immigration Coalition all recommend voting YES on all five of them.) The New York Times has come out against Proposal 5, which I think shows above all its commitment to the real estate lobby…
I agree about the NY Times. Their explanation for not givinG community boards 15 to 30 days to review a proposal was lame. Too often the City tries to sneak a proposal by so community boards and other groups have no meaningful time yo review and comment or object. Using the excuse that it might slow down needed public housing is laughable. It’s the private developers who don’t like this.
Please take a sec to engage and read the proposals on your own. Then you can cross reference with endorsements for any reading between the lines you might have missed. It’s a good exercise in taking ownership, citizenship, and reminding yourself of your individual power over all the noise. HAPPY VOTING!
It is wrong that “In an RCV electoral system … … the candidate who receives the most first-choice votes would win,” To win, candidate must get a clear majority of first-choice votes. If no candidate achieves this majority, the ranked choice system kicks in. See ballotpedia.com for a good explanation of this.
I’m copying George’s comment below. He said it best.
“Giving a damn for honest police is entirely consistent with disciplining bad cops who perjure themselves and oversight for higher police officials who look the other way. Vote YES on Question 2 to support good cops.”