For more information, please visit the official New York website.
You can register in person at your county board of elections, at any New York State Agency-Based voter registration center, or at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Use the online registration form to register to vote. You will need your NYS driver's license, permit, or non-driver ID card, and social security number.
Printable forms: English and Spanish
A New York State driver license, permit, or non-driver ID card and social secrutiy number is required.
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.
If the County Board of Elections is unable to verify your identity when you register, you will be asked for ID when you vote for the first time. Otherwise, you will not need to bring any ID to the polls.
Department of Motor Vehicles
Obtaining an ID
In order to apply for and receive an absentee ballot, you must meet one of the following requirements:
Absent from your county or, if a resident of New York City absent from said city, on Election Day.
Applications for Absentee Ballots are available at your county board of elections.
You may also download a PDF version of the New York State Absentee Ballot Application Form
More info regarding Absentee Voting.
In New York City and the counties of Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess and Erie, POLLS OPEN AT 6 AM - CLOSE AT 9 PM. In all other counties, POLLS OPEN AT 12 NOON and CLOSE AT 9 PM.
General Elections
Polls are open from 6 am - 9 pm.
Many organizations offer free rides to polling places. Some of these include:
The New York State Board of Elections is committed to providing exemplary assistance to all voters, including those with access needs. Any voter who requests assistance is entitled to receive it, regardless of the reason.
In addition to poll worker training, we also strive to serve all voters by creating accessible polling places.
The New York State Board of Elections has also made registering to vote accessible to all voters by offering multiple methods for completing a Voter Registration Form on their Voter Registration page.
More info regarding Voter Access Needs.
NYC Voters' Guide - nonpartisan guide to candidates and referenda on the ballot.
Jurisdiction |
Offices/Measures That May Appear on the Ballot |
Federal (even years) |
President/Vice-President (elected every four years; next election in 2020) Senator (elected every six years for staggered terms; next election in 2022) Representative (elected every two years) |
State (even years) |
Governor/Lieutenant Governor, State Comptroller, Attorney General (elected every four years; next election in 2022) State Senator (elected every two years) Assembly Member (elected every two years) Statewide ballot measures |
General Election Day is November 3, 2020.
The full election calendar for New York State can be seen here.
If you wish to file a complaint or inquire about enforcement action you may contact the Enforcement Counsel at:
Risa S. SugarmanNew York State's Board of Elections maintains a Campaign Finance portal that provides info on campaign finance news & laws for candidates & committees for New York State.
Find your elected officials.
1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683)
1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) (en Español)
1-888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683) (Asian multilingual assistance)
1-844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287) (Arabic)
Find useful voter information including:
Librarians from the Government Documents Round Table (GODORT), a Round Table of the American Library Association (ALA), created these reference guides. These guides are intended for informational purposes only and are not in any way intended to be legal advice.
If you have questions or feedback to share about these guides, we encourage you to CONTACT US.
These guides are designated with a Creative Commons license and re-use and modification for educational purposes is encouraged.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This work by Principia College Library is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International