The New York City Board of Elections has posted a link to allow you to apply for an absentee ballot for the November 3rd election online, as well as to verify your registration status and polling place, quickly and easily. Click on vote.nyc here or below. If you plan on voting by mail, apply for your absentee ballot by October 27. Ballots will be mailed beginning on/after September 18, 2020, according to the BOE. Return them quickly.
NYC Voters, please visit https://t.co/y3JRuS6TiB to apply for your absentee ballot! Please share and help us keep voters safe! pic.twitter.com/pTKJ25lHaV
— NYC Board of Elections (@BOENYC) August 21, 2020
Apologies for an incorrect original headline which has been fixed.
Thank you! Filling out the online form required a minimum of personal info to pull up my registration, and about a minute of my time
The deadline to apply for an absentee ballot is Oct 27. The ballot must be mailed by Election Day.
Please correct your misstatement.
Thank you, Paul! Corrected.
What is the best option this year – absentee, early voting, or going on election day? I’m honestly not sure.
What are others doing?
TrueTrue I am applying for an absentee ballot in support of the opportunity to do so. Historically I’ve voted in person including the recent primary. Since I always vote after work there has never been a significant line – I’ve waited behind perhaps 5 at the most – but I feel it’s so important to have this choice it was a no-brainer for me to apply, just in case. You never know these days which polling place Trump will attack next so best to be prepared.
I voted early for the June primary, and anyone concerned about exposure to Covid could take heart that the precautions at the West Side High School voting site were far in excess of what happens at the supermarket. Everyone was masked, many with the plastic visors. You were handed a pen when you walked in. You use that pen for everything, and you keep it the end. I was in and out in 5 minutes. Obviously you make you decision on your individual situation, but it was a very professional operation, and everyone kept moving. Hopefully the early voting hours will be extended for the General Election
Glad to hear that, thanks Glen
Thanks to all for weighing in. After reading all of your comments, I think I’m leaning towards early voting. The last couple elections I voted at 830pm after work because of long lines in the morning. At that point, it’s not nearly as fun although I guess it counts the same.
I intend to either “Early Vote” or vote on 11/3. I don’t want my vote ‘getting lost in the mail’
I’m going on Election Day. My polling place is close by and I’ve never had to wait long. In addition, I believe there will be early voting possible this year.
in the primary, i sent away for an absentee ballot… but it didn’t come until a day or two before the election. i voted early at a local school, and it was a very quick process. I assume they will have early voting and that is what i will do again.
In 2016, on the UWS, there were very long lines to vote in the general election. And no, they were not standing on line to vote for Trump… and they won’t be again.
That may be what you think but his numbers in a large amount of ED/AD’s would surprise you. He actually out paced other Rep Pres candidates on a historical basis.
Early voting is the ticket in my opinion. The crowds are less, and the procedure is the same as voting on Election Day so there is no danger that your vote will be disqualified by some mail-in technicality.
I don’t think my voted was counted in the primary, because we received (and returned) them the day before the election.
So I’m leaning toward early voting – but will apply for a ballot. Would greatly prefer to vote by mail, as my husband and myself are both vulnerable.
The BOE list of allowable reasons for voting absentee does not include disease precaution or prevention (such as coronavirus). I would hate to see absentee ballots voided due to this “catch.” NYS needs to close this loophole immediately to assure voter confidence in the vote-by-mail system (USPS problems notwithstanding).
This is misinformation. Please disregard.
They changed the law as of a week or two ago.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today signed into law sweeping election reforms that will make it easier for New Yorkers to vote and be counted in November. The three-part package includes new measures allowing absentee ballot applications to be submitted to the Board of Elections immediately, expanding the necessary protections to allow a voter to get an absentee ballot due to risk or fear of illness including COVID-19 and ensuring all absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day or received by the Board of Elections without a postmark on the day after the Election will be counted. Ballots with a postmark demonstrating that they were mailed on or before Election Day will be counted if received by November 10.
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-signs-law-sweeping-election-reforms#_blank
Hi – Co-President of the League of Women Voters of the City of New York. The State Legislature passed and the Governor signed a bill (S8015D) that defines the term “illness” to include risk of contracting or spreading a disease causing illness to the voter or other members of the public. This is specifically directed at allowing people to use absentee ballots due to risk of COVID-19 using “temporary illness” as their excuse. https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2019/s8015/amendment/d. We’re also encouraging people to consider early voting (Oct. 24 – Nov 1). But all NY voters can get absentee ballots this year.
If anyone has questions regarding absentee voting, early voting, voter registration, or any topic related to voting, call us! We answer phones from 10 am – 5 pm every day. 212-725-3541.
Cuomo signed a bill this month allowing coronavirus as a valid excuse for voting absentee:
https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-signs-law-sweeping-election-reforms
https://www.elections.ny.gov/votingabsentee.html
One of the options is “Unable to appear at the polls due to temporary or permanent illness or disability (temporary illness includes being unable to appear due to risk of contracting or spreading a communicable disease like COVID-19).”
By the way,
Is anyone here concerned about Asymptomatic Covid spread in Gyms
and
Won’t return to the gym when it reopens?
What will you do if you have a Gym membership?
Going to suspend my membership until I feel it is safe. If they wont suspend, will cancel.
Then why is this on the gov page?
“This fall, all New York voters can vote by mail due to the risk of contracting the coronavirus. You can select “Temporary illness or disability” as the reason for your request.”
All people need to do is to mark that they will be out of town on election day. It’s nobody’s business why you are voting absentee. The no corona virus exclusion is simply a way of denying us our right to vote as well as to protect ourselves from the pandemic.
This is misinformation. Please disregard.
From the Board of Elections of the City of New York site, which link included below:
“If you are affected by COVID-19 and/or the potential of contracting the virus, please check the box for “Temporary Illness” on the application. The definition has been temporarily expanded to include “a risk of contracting or spreading a disease” such as COVID-19.”
https://nycabsentee.com/
No absentee ballot for me thanks. I would crawl through broken glass to vote for Biden on Election Day.
It’s important to make that effort in a swing state like NY
Given Trump’s public statements that he will proclaim the election “rigged” unless he wins, it’s important that, even in New York State, Biden’s margin in the popular vote be as large and convincing as possible, regardless of the electoral count.
New York is not a swing state. Solidly blue.
Then why is Biden and co doing huge add buys in NYC between labor day and then stopping during the Jewish holidays. Picking back up in Oct. Their Media bookers have already granted, mean they will have to pay no matter what, millions of $$$ for than H did.
Biden internals show him losing upstate and needing to boost nyc turnout Ads will be after each deabate
Although it SEEMS as if our local USPS (10023) has NOT been affected by the WH-ordered slowdown, this is still a worrisome time.
Thus:
1. Can a completed 2020 Presidential Election Ballot be DROPPED-OFF either at the usual voting place OR somewhere else that can guarantee our vote will be counted; and
2. is there a phone-number or email address that can answer such an important question.
Anyone……?
Hi,
Absentee ballots that have been sealed in their confidentiality envelopes, signed, and dated can be dropped off at any early voting site (between Oct 24th and Nov 1st) or any polling site on Nov 3rd.
Please call the League of Women Voters of the City of New York with any voting questions. You can call us at 212-725-3541.
Forgot – you can also drop them off at the Board of Elections. In Manhattan, that is at 200 Varick St, 10th floor.
THANK YOU….
1. For your detailed reply; and
2. For all the good stuff your organization has done and continues to do.
Don’t forget about social distancing. Six feet, masks and maybe gloves. Also gloves and lysol when handling any foreign paper objects, as some of the nastier Covid strains can live on surfaces for up to 5 days I’ve read. Good luck!
Oh, please!
If I apply for an absentee ballot but closer to the election I decide I would prefer to vote in person am I still able to do that?
I applied for an absentee last time and it never came, and I got more and more anxious as the days to the election counted down… plus, I just don’t get a lot of mail anymore, and know something is wrong, I don’t care what they say to the contrary.
For example, I got a notice last week from AMZN, about a delivery that didn’t happen… but I was home the whole time and there was no notice left on the door to that effect, or anywhere else!
The next day they had allegedly tried again, but again I was home & there wasn’t a notice left behind. I called the Planetarium PO, but of course they never picked up the phone… so I went over there, waited in line, and finally got my package. I tried to explain what happened but the agent couldn’t possibly have cared less.
Long story short, my absentee ballot finally came the day of the election; I went to the polling place anyway as I was taking no chances… and as far as trump’s concerned?
I would crawl over broken glass to give him the boot.
No way I trust something that important to the USPS in its current state, especially as it’s run these days (into the ground) by one of his cronies, who seems to be busy lying to Congress and destroying vital sorting machines…
Thank you for this post and the opportunity to ask questions and share information. Please be aware of registration information, too.
Voter Registration
Deadline by mail, postmarked no later than October 9, 2020.
Deadline for on-line voter registration, October 9, 2020.
From votenyc website, the posted downloadable registration form asks for Department of Motor Vehicle identification:
“Verifying your identity.
We’ll try to check your identity before Election Day, through the DMV number (driver’s license number or non-driver ID number), or the last four digits of your social security number, which you’ll fill in below.
If you do not have a DMV or social security number, you may use a valid photo ID, a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or some other government document that shows your name and address. You may include a copy of one of those types of ID with this form— be sure to tape the sides of the form closed.
If we are unable to verify your identity before Election Day, you will be asked for ID when you vote for the first time.”
Best way to vote is IN PERSON during early voting days. But if you can’t, DO NOT wait til October 27 to get an absentee ballot! Apply for it now, online. When it arrives (sometime after mid-Sept), return it ASAP so it doesn’t get slowed down by USPS. Better yet, complete it and drop if off at your early voting polling location, Oct 24-Nov 1. Be careful to sign and date your absentee ballot; you will need a Stamp if you’re not dropping it off at polling place; and DO NOT TAPE the envelope closed. BTW, if you can’t leave your home, get someone else to drop it off or mail it!
I applied at least a month ago and have heard nothing. ???
When should those ballots be coming to us? I mailed my application almost a month ago.