Student Voting Guide | New York
Registration
www.elections.state.ny.us (registration form available online)
The voter registration deadline is 25 days before the election; mail-forms must be postmarked by that date, and must be received within five days of the deadline.[1] New York also has a much earlier deadline for voters who are already registered who want to switch parties, so if you want to vote in a particular party’s primary, you may have to register well in advance.
You can register to vote if you will be 18 by the next election.[2]
Residency
In New York, students can establish residency if they have the intent to remain at their school address for the time being, and they intend to make it their principal home. Any other interpretation of the residency laws is unconstitutional.[3]
New York law defines “residence” as “that place where a person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home and to which he, wherever temporarily located, always intends to return.”[4] Even though the law talks about a “permanent home,” that term “requires only physical presence and an intention to remain for the time at least.”[5]
At School. Students who consider their school address their principal home and who presently intend to remain at that address for the time being should be able to establish voting residency in New York.
At Home. Students who lived in New York before moving elsewhere to attend school, and who wish to establish or keep their New York voting residency (i.e., at their parents’ New York address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state. Like all states, New York allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the district to attend school,[6] and the only way you will lose this residency is by establishing residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of your New York residency, some judges or officials might view it as such.
Challenges to Residency. Your registration can be initially denied by the county board of elections if it finds that you are not a resident.[7] You will receive notice at least ten days before the next election, and you can then challenge that denial in court.[8] Even if you effectively register, it can also be rejected by the board under the same process at any time up to ten days before the next election.[9]
Your eligibility to vote can also be challenged on the basis of your residency by other voters.[10] If you register in person, a challenge can happen when you originally apply for registration; if a majority of the officials conducting registration think you’re qualified, you’ll be registered.[11] Your eligibility can also be challenged any time after you are registered.[12] The Board of Elections will notify you of the challenge, and investigate your eligibility. If they cannot make a decision before Election Day, you will be put on a list to be challenged at the polls.[13] You can appeal the outcome of a challenge in court.[14]
On Election Day, your eligibility to vote can be challenged by poll workers, partisan watchers, or other voters.[15] You will have to answer a couple of questions about your residency under oath, and you might have to swear an oath saying that you are eligible to vote, but you should be able to vote a regular ballot unless you refuse to take an oath.[16]
Identification
Only a very small subset of New York voters have to show ID: first-time voters who registered by mail whose driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers were not verified by the state and who also did not include a copy of any eligible identification documentation with the mailed-in registration. Those voters will need to either submit a copy of their ID in advance or show ID while voting, either at the polls or with their absentee ballot.[17] Accepted ID includes any current and valid photo identification - including student ID - or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the voter’s name and address.[18] Cell phone bills will be accepted, as will online printouts of bills and other qualifying documents.[19]
Absentee Voting
http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/download/voting/absentee.pdf
Any voter who is “unavoidably absent” from their county of registration or whose “duties, occupation, business, or study” require them to be elsewhere on Election Day may vote absentee.[20] Students who are absent from the county where they are registered due to their studies are specifically granted the right to vote absentee under New York state law.[21] Blank applications are available online at the state board of elections web site at the above link. If you mail in your application, it must be postmarked at least seven days before the election.[22] Your ballot must be postmarked by the day before the election and received by your county board within seven days after the election.[23] Neither your ballot nor your application need to be witnessed.[24]
Last Updated in April 2010
[1] N.Y. Elec. Law §§ 5-210, -211, -212.
[2] N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-102.
[3] Ramey v. Rockefeller, 348 F. Supp. 780, 788 (E.D.N.Y. 1972); see also Williams v. Salerno, 792 F.2d 323 (2d Cir. 1986).
[4] N.Y. Elec. Law § 1-104(22) (2010).
[5] Williams v. Salerno, 792 F.2d 323, 327 (1986).
[6] N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-104(1) (2010).
[7] See N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-210(11); see also N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-204(3)(e) (2010).
[8] N.Y. Elec. Law §§ 16-108; 5-210(11).
[9] N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-210(14).
[10] N.Y. Elec. Law §§ 5-218(1), -220.
[11] N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-218 (2010).
[12] N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-220.
[13] N.Y. Elec. Law § 5-220(2).
[14] N.Y. Elec. Law § 16-108.
[15] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-502.
[16] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-504 (2010).
[17] See N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-303 (2010).
[18] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-303.
[19] Interview with Lisa Stapleton, Secretary, New York State Board of Elections (May 9, 2008).
[20] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-400 (2010).
[21] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-400(1)(a).
[22] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-400(c).
[23] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-412 (2010).
[24] N.Y. Elec. Law § 8-400(7) (only voters who are unable to sign their own applications and require assistance need a witness to the application).
