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Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From registration to election day and beyond; how voting in New York works
Jul. 19—From registration to casting a ballot and after, the voting process in New York is one of checks, double checks and triple checks meant to ensure the integrity of the democratic process. As detailed through public documentation, the letter of the law and consulting with a state Board of Elections official, the process relies on the contributions of hundreds to thousands of people, from local volunteer poll inspectors to experts in a vast state oversight operation. REGISTRATION In New York, voters can register to vote either individually through their county Board of Elections, in person or by mail, or alongside their drivers license application. When filling out a voter registration form, the applicant has to affirm their right to vote as a citizen of the U.S., that they're over 18 or will be by election day, their address, provide some sort of identification, confirm a voting history if any exists, and select party membership, including not joining one at all. Applicants are asked to sign an affidavit affirming they are a citizen, have lived in the place they are registering to vote from for more than 30 days, and acknowledge a potential jail sentence or fine for being untruthful. If the individual registered for a party, that makes them eligible to vote in that party's primary elections, choosing which candidate will go forward against the other party candidates in the November general elections. Those not in a party, or in a smaller party that doesn't frequently hold primary elections, will be restricted to voting in nonpartisan elections only — the November general and some primaries in cities that bar party participation in local elections. CASTING THE VOTE For both primary and general elections, voters can apply for absentee ballots, permitting them to vote in their local elections while temporarily out of town for reasons including military service, college attendance or travel. New York recently updated election laws to also permit early voting by mail, which allows someone to request an early ballot be delivered to their home, allowing them to vote by mail even if they're physically able to make it to the polls. New York has also expanded early in-person voting for both primaries and general elections, allowing people to show up to a limited number of polling sites in their home county and cast a ballot the same way they would on election day. And then there's the normal election day process, where the county BOE's open dozens of polling sites in every city, town and village for voters to show up to in person, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. While New York has shifted its primary calendar significantly in recent years, primary election days are typically a Tuesday at the end of June. General election day for almost all offices in New York and at the federal level is always the first Tuesday of November — this year that's November 4. Some local village and town elections may be held on different dates. Those elections are typically not run by the county boards of election, rather handled by the local government itself. This approach is fading out of practice in much of the state. In both primaries and general election dates, that one day of widespread poll openings is the deadline for all other forms of voting to be completed; in-person early voting wraps up the Sunday before election day, and both early and absentee mail ballots must be postmarked by election day, although they can be received up to a week after. The ballots themselves are not uniform across the state, but legislation was passed in 2011 that requires they meet a general standard — large, black and white pieces of paper with English and Spanish instructions. Offices on the ballot change depending on the election, and rules change depending on the office. Some elections for city council permit voters to pick more than one candidate, while races for mayor or governor allow only a single choice. In New York City, primary elections use a completely different ranked choice method that allows up to 5 choices, but those rules only apply to a limited number of elections and no other New York state entity employs those rules. New York uses digital optical scanning machines that take paper ballots, which replaced an older mechanical lever-based system. Whether the ballot is cast at a polling site or in a Board of Elections office, it's run through that county's choice of ballot machine and registered. In Jefferson County, officials use ClearBallot machines, while Lewis and Franklin Counties use Dominion machines. In St. Lawrence County, Dominion machines are used at poll sites while ClearBallot machines are used for the central count. Voting machines are tested for logic and accuracy before each election and tested to confirm they will work with all ballots being used by the county. All voting machines must be used each year, and tested each year, which is accomplished by rotating the machines used in each election event. The state Board of Elections maintains a centralized maintenance log for all voting machines and works with county officials to ensure the testing works as planned. Other counties across the state use other machines; the Hart Verity system or the Election Systems & Software platform. All four options consist of an optical scanning system and a dedicated ballot marking system that can be used by anyone, but is tailored to people with physical disabilities. Some systems offer specialized machines for ballot marking, while others like Dominion integrate an assistive technology platform with an optical scanner. Voters can choose to fill out their paper ballot by hand or use the assistive technology, regardless of if they are disabled or not. To use assistive technology, a voter only has to ask an election inspector. While voters are verified using signature-matching, in most counties done with computerized voter rolls now, their vote itself is not tied to them. Voters verify they are eligible to vote and have cast a ballot, but the ballot itself cannot be tied back to them. For mail-in ballots, election officials separate them from their signed envelopes which serve as their signature verification and feed them into a set-aside counting machine. COUNTING THE VOTE The vote is immediately counted when scanned into the machine and both the assistive voting machines and the optical scanners give voters a chance to return their ballot and show that it's been processed. Each paper ballot, which is generated both by the assistive machines and the hand voting process, is stored in the machine it was counted by, sealed behind a locked panel. Each vote cast in New York has a paper trail — nothing is fully digital. These poll machines feed their results into a centralized, secure election management system maintained by the local board of elections. That system permits them to immediately tally early, unverified results from all polling sites including their in-office machines used for early and mail-in ballots. In some cases, especially rural counties with polling sites in remote places, these machines don't report their results until delivered to the county board of elections headquarters, but most of them can report their results remotely through a secure connection. Then there's a verification process to make sure all ballots are counted properly; a recanvas and a post-election audit. Both those processes are set out in state law with strict timelines. For the recanvas, machine totals are checked against aggregate vote totals to make sure the math works out, and that is done for every optical scanning machine. The audit, which counts individual ballots and compares those results to the machines records, is done on 3% of machines but can be expanded if the recanvas shows errors or the audit shows a high failure rate. In all instances, paper ballots filled out by the voter are available to be counted. For extremely close contests, manual recounts are automatically triggered as well. When a candidate has a legitimate concern over the results of an election, they can petition for a manual recount for their contest as well. Early votes and mail-in ballots are scanned on machines that cannot have their results read until the polls close, or as much as an hour beforehand with a strict block on reporting that information anywhere public. Results reported on election night after the polls close reflect in-person voting, including early in-person and day-of voting, as well as the mailed ballots that could be verified and processed before election day. There are still votes coming in for up to a week after election day, mailed up to the day of the election, and some mailed ballots may be 'cured' if they present verification problems that the voter can correct. Additionally, some errors may be found during the recanvas, audit or for contests with recounts. Post-election, the state board of elections receives the voting activity for all registered voters in each county through the NYSVoter proprietary database. The state board then conducts a match process to ensure there was no double or improper voting. Counties also have to certify their audit process with the state board. Once all of that is done, the county boards certify their results, affirming the vote count is true and accurate, and locking in the results. Some certified votes come in within weeks of the election, others take months to resolve in the event of irregularities, legal challenges or other challenges to the validity of the results. While significant errors are rare, and preliminary results typically closely resemble or exactly match the certified results, numbers shared before certification are considered preliminary and are subject to change. THE PEOPLE WHO DO THE WORK In New York, Boards of Elections are bipartisan operations; the local Republican and Democratic party committees each nominate a commissioner who is accepted by the local county legislature and appointed to run the board. Each party then has an equal number of staff including a deputy, a technical manager, a clerk and other staff. Some counties with large populations have over a hundred election staff members, while most rural counties have between 8 and 14 staff members — all are chosen by their respective party's commissioner. Local boards are responsible for adjudicating ballot access, and commissioners vote on whether a candidate has fulfilled the standards set out in the law when issues with ballot access petitions arise. Party organizations can send individuals to observe the counting process on and after election night, but only registered poll inspectors and county board of elections staff are allowed to do the actual recounting and auditing. Some local boards of election allow members of the public to observe as well, provided numbers remain reasonable and viewers do not interfere with the process. Board of elections staff retain the power to remove any observer who causes disruption, and some counties enlist sheriff's deputies to maintain order. The state board of elections is similar although it has four commissioners, two Republican and two Democrat. It also has two executive directors also nominated by the Democrat and Republican parties. Established in 1974, it doesn't count votes and rather serves as an overseer for the county boards, regulator for campaign finance and campaign laws, and assistant with over arching responsibilities. The state Board of Elections performs a final check of all county voting results, compares voter rolls to ensure no voter cast two ballots, and checks New York's voter rolls against a national voter roll for the same purpose. The state board is also tasked with certifying all voting technology before county boards can buy the machines, including all physical devices, software and updates, registration systems, polling books, ballot marking devices, as well as the physical furniture used for polling sites. They show up on-site when a county elections board purchases new technology and review it with an isolated computer system. They also review ballots to ensure they fit a reasonable standard and maintain campaign finance records for political campaigns. In the event of legal challenges, errors or other problems with the county process, the state board offers resources to assist the local officials with resolving issues. "The steps that the county boards must take post-election day are meant to check and double-check work that has been done before the process can be finalized," said a spokesperson for the state board of elections. "Accuracy is almost more important than speed. Above all, election administration and oversight are always transparent and bipartisan. These priorities help ensure fairness, accuracy and security of voting and elections." Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC elections board launches program to gather missing data for 103K registered voters
The state Board of Elections has undertaken an effort to collect driver's license numbers or partial social security numbers for roughly 103,000 voters whose information is missing from the state's voter rolls. "The Registration Repair Project aims to ensure that North Carolina's voter rolls are as accurate and complete as possible, bring them into compliance with recent state court rulings, and settle a pending lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice," a news release July 18 said. The Department of Justice alleges that North Carolina violated the Help America Vote Act by using a voter registration form that didn't require applicants to provide a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when registering. Under federal and state law, when a person registers to vote, they must provide that information, which is then used to verify the person's identity. "However, faulty instructions on a voter registration form used in North Carolina for about a decade led some voters to register without providing either number," the release said. "The voter registration form was corrected in January 2024 to make it clear that one of those numbers is required." The state Board of Elections noted that some have inaccurately suggested the effort would remove eligible voters from the rolls. "Instead," Sam Hayes, executive director of the elections board, said in the release, 'it will result in cleaner, more complete voter rolls and full compliance with state and federal laws. He said the office has undergone "great lengths" to streamline and make the process transparent. He said BOE expects the list of voters for which the information is needed "will decrease quickly." The list of voters — including 100 who live in Cumberland County — is available on the NCBOE website at Users can click the Registration Repair button on the home page and search the database by name, street address, voter registration number or county. Voters on the Registration Repair list have three options If you find you're among the 1.3% of N.C. voters whose records need to be updated, you have three options, according to the NCBOE. • Submit an updated voter registration form through the DMV's website at Click 'Continue as Guest' when asked to log into myNCDMV. There is no fee for this service. Click 'Yes' when asked to update your voter information. • Visit your county board of elections office, and they can help you ensure your registration is complete. You will need to have your driver's license number or Social Security number with you. The Cumberland County Board of Elections is located in the E. Newton Smith Center at 227 Fountainhead Lane, Suite 101, in Fayetteville. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit the Cumberland County Board of Elections online at or call 910-678-7733. The Board of Elections will not request your personal information over the phone. • In August, the State Board of Elections will mail letters to individuals who remain on the list at the time the mailing is sent. You can fill out the letter and mail it to the county board of elections in the pre-addressed return envelope enclosed with the letter. Postage is provided on the envelope. The Cumberland County Board of Elections mailing address is 227 Fountainhead Lane, Suite 101, Fayetteville, NC 28301. The NCBOE said that in future elections, if in-person voters are on the list and have not provided the information, they will be required to cast a provisional ballot and provide the information when they vote. This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: NC election board launches Registration Repair Project for voter records Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Summit County Board of Elections office moves to East Tallmadge Avenue location
Those wishing to vote early or have other business with the Summit County Board of Elections will need to go to the elections board's new location at 1050 Tallmadge Ave. The board of elections office officially opened at its new location on June 30 from its longtime spot on Grant Street. Pete Zeigler, the deputy director of the board of elections, said that Summit County is leasing the space, which is adjacent to the Ohio Means Jobs offices, from the Summit County Land Bank. "We're in the same big building," Zeigler said of the close proximity the elections board office shares with OMJ. "We now have signage up as well so people can find us." The Grant Street location is now closed. There will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening at 2 p.m. July 15. Tours will follow the ceremony. Those wishing to attend should RSVP at The new space will provide more room for not only the staff but for Summit County residents, particularly early voters, Zeigler said. "The county realized that we were limited if we had stayed there," he said of the Grant Street location. "It was undersized in both our storage needs and in areas for staff to work, and our early voting center. In 2016, we started early voting, and it has skyrocketed since. There was no means to expand the building and parking." Regular hours at the board are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. For details, or the elections board's Facebook page, or call 330-643-5200. This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit board of elections welcomes voters to Tallmadge Avenue space
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mamdani beats Cuomo in NYC Democratic mayoral primary: Track live races
NEW YORK - Zohran Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo in the third round of ranked choice voting, winning New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, per results released by the New York City Board of Elections. JUMP TO ELECTION RESULTS FOR: MAYOR | COMPTROLLER | MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT | CITY COUNCIL Dig deeper Ranked choice voting allows voters to list up to five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate surpasses the 50% threshold, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and those votes go to the next choice on each ballot. This process continues until two candidates remain; whoever has the most votes then wins. The BOE plans to certify the results on July 15. More races in the primary have not been finalized, including city comptroller and several City Council races. Track real-time election results as they're released below: Click here to find your district. Financial District-Battery Park City, Tribeca-Civic Center, The Battery-Governors Island-Ellis Island-Liberty Island, SoHo-Little Italy-Hudson Square, Chinatown-Two Bridges, Lower East Side Greenwich Village, Lower East Side, East Village, Midtown South-Flatiron-Union Square, Gramercy, Murray Hill-Kips Bay Midtown South-NoMad, Midtown-Times Square, Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, Murray Hill-Kips Bay, East Midtown-Turtle Bay, United Nations, Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill Mott Haven-Port Morris, Melrose, Concourse-Concourse Village, Upper East Side-Carnegie Hill, Upper East Side-Yorkville, East Harlem (South), East Harlem (North), Randall's Island Bruckner-Bronx River, Throggs Neck-Schuylerville, Pelham Bay-Country Club-City Island, Hart Island, Ferry Point Park-St. Raymond Cemetery, Pelham Parkway-Van Nest, Morris Park, Pelham Bay Park Mott Haven-Port Morris, Melrose, Hunts Point, Longwood, North & South Brother Islands, Morrisania, Crotona Park East, Concourse-Concourse Village, West Farms, Soundview-Bruckner-Bronx River Astoria (North)-Ditmars-Steinway, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, North Corona, Elmhurst, Corona, Rego Park, Flushing-Willets Point, LaGuardia Airport, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park South Ozone Park, Jamaica, South Jamaica, Baisley Park, Springfield Gardens (North)-Rochdale Village, Springfield Gardens (South)-Brookville Maspeth, Middle Village, parts of Glendale, Ridgewood, Elmhurst and Rego Park Bedford-Stuyvesant (East), Crown Heights (North), Lincoln Terrace Park, Crown Heights (South), Prospect Lefferts Gardens-Wingate, Ocean Hill, Brownsville, East Flatbush-Rugby, East Flatbush-Remsen Village The Source This article uses information from the Associated Press and New York City government websites.
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
What to Know About Ranked-Choice Results in the N.Y.C. Mayor's Race
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani's strong performance in New York City's Democratic mayoral primary last Tuesday turned him into a national figure overnight, as his upstart campaign overtook that of the longtime front-runner, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. But it was not enough to make him the official nominee. That victory is likely to come on Tuesday. Since Mr. Mamdani received less than 50 percent of the vote in the first round of counting, a runoff was triggered under New York City's relatively new ranked-choice voting system. The system allows voters to rank up to five candidates in order of preference. Now, the candidates with the least first-choice support will be eliminated, round by round, and their votes redistributed to voters' next choices. The Board of Elections will release the ranked-choice results on Tuesday, one week after the primary. Here's what to know: When will the results be available? The ranked-choice voting results are slated to be released online at noon, according to a news release from the Board of Elections. What will they include? The Board of Elections said it would report the tally of all the ballots that were counted during the city's nine days of in-person early voting and on Primary Day, as well as mail-in ballots received and processed by Primary Day. The board plans to release updated numbers weekly on Tuesdays until all ballots are counted and final results certified. The final results will include absentee ballots. There were 11 candidates in the race. With an estimated 93 percent of the vote counted last Tuesday, Mr. Mamdani had the support of 43.5 percent of the city's Democratic primary voters, leading Mr. Cuomo by about seven percentage points. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
