It’s Election Day, the last chance for anyone who did not vote early to head to the polls.
The rules around voting are paramount, and campaign workers, poll watchers, police, election inspectors and other Board of Election employees are all supposed to follow certain rules to help ensure orderly and fair elections.
To help you know what to expect at your poll site, Gothamist has compiled a breakdown of the key rules at polling places and what to do if you think they aren’t being followed.
Do I need an ID to vote?
New Yorkers who provided identification when they registered to vote do not need to show ID at the polls, and will be matched through their signature, according to the city Board of Elections.
The board has guidance on voter identification here.
What will poll workers ask me for before I vote?
When you get to your poll site, an election inspector will likely ask for identifying information like your address and last name.
You’ll then have to provide your signature, which the inspector will match with one kept on file. They’ll then print your ballot and hand it over for you to fill out.
Ballots are two-sided and include a number of proposals, as well as candidates. Gothamist’s primer on the ballot proposals can be found here.
Will I see police at my poll site?
You’ll most likely see an NYPD officer at your poll site.
New York election law says each polling place is required to have at least one police or peace officer from the time it opens until it closes for the day. Involving police in the voting process in the city goes back more than a century, several election law experts told Gothamist.
Today, police officers are there in large part as a physical presence to ensure an orderly process. Like everyone else at the poll site, they are not allowed to try to influence your vote.
“They’re just there to keep the peace,” said Ben Kallos, a former city councilmember who now works as an election lawyer.
What is electioneering?
Electioneering means trying to win votes for a candidate in any way. That can include conversations, passing out literature, wearing a candidate’s button or shirt or carrying their poster. New York election law bans it inside a polling place or within 100 feet of the entrance.
Electioneering is a misdemeanor in New York, but in many instances it can be addressed by a poll worker before law enforcement is involved, said Joseph Burns, an attorney who previously served as deputy director of election operations at the New York State Board of Elections.
If someone comes to a poll with a button or T-shirt that supports a certain candidate, a poll worker will likely tell them to take it off or cover it up with a jacket, Burns said.
“You're probably going to have one of the inspectors simply say, ‘Please put the button in your pocket, please put the button in your purse, cover up your shirt with your jacket while you're in here’.”
“ Somebody handing out literature that's a bit more serious, right?” he said, adding that if electioneering is blatant, the police officer assigned to a poll site could intervene to stop it.
Who else will be at the polls?
In addition to police officers and poll workers, voters may encounter poll watchers, who are typically representatives from a candidate or political party who are allowed in a poll site to observe the process.
In rare cases, poll watchers are allowed to challenge individual votes if they think a signature is not authentic, someone has voted more than once, or someone is voting in the wrong neighborhood, according to the city Board of Elections.
Poll watchers are barred from interfering with the election process by doing things like talking to poll workers in front of voters, talking to voters who are voting and electioneering.
Where can I file a complaint about something that happens at my poll site?
If you encounter issues at your polling place, the city says you can file a complaint with 311.
The city says such issues include a poll site that opened late or closed early, long lines, lack of privacy while voting, or someone inside the polls who tried to influence your vote.
You can also report electioneering at your poll site or the borough Board of Elections office.
