Voter Registration

For democracy to work well, all citizens must participate. The first step is to register to vote. Please share this material with your friends, neighbors and members of your congregation to enable any who may not be registered to participate in the important decisions to be made at the polls. Additional information is available on the web site of the NYC Board of Elections at www.vote.nyc.ny.us.

The Voter Registration Application is available for download, reproduction and distribution. You may collect completed forms and mail them in a batch to the Board of Elections at: Board of Elections in the City of New York, 32 Broadway Fl 7, New York, NY 10004-1609.

Qualifications

To register to vote in the City of New York, you must:

• Be a citizen of the United States (Includes those persons born in Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands).

• Be a New York City resident for at least 30 days.

• Be 18 years of age before the next election.

• Not be serving a jail sentence or be on parole for a felony conviction.

• Not be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court.

• Not claim the right to vote elsewhere (outside the City of New York).

Although you can register any time during the year, your form must be delivered or mailed at least 25 days before the next election for it to be effective for that election.

How To Register By Mail

A Voter Registration Form from the New York City Board of Elections may be obtained in the following ways:

• Download the Voter Registration Application at http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/register.jsp. Forms are available in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Korean.

• Call the Phone Bank and request a postage-paid registration form in the mail. The Board of Elections operates an attended Phone Bank during office hours (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) with a multi-lingual staff of English, Chinese Mandarin/Cantonese, Korean and Spanish speaking operators.

Toll Free: 1.866.VOTE-NYC (1.866.868.3692)
Outside of New York City: 1.212.VOTE-NYC
TDD: 1.212.487.5496

• You may also obtain Registration Forms from libraries, Post Offices, and most New York City Government agencies.

Fill out a Voter Registration Application using only a pen with blue or black ink. Be sure to sign the form.

Mail (do not fax) the Voter Registration Form to:

Board of Elections in the City of New York
32 Broadway Fl 7
New York, NY 10004-1609

Party Affiliation in New York State

The application contains a section where you can indicate your choice for party affiliation. If you would like to register without designating a party, simply mark the space indicating "I do not wish to enroll in a party." The following parties are recognized in New York State: Republican, Democratic, Independence, Conservative, and Working Families.

Party Affiliation and the Primary System

In a Primary Election, only voters registered with one of the parties qualified to hold a primary in New York City may vote to nominate their party's candidate to run in the general election.

Candidates nominated by the parties for each office then appear on the general election ballot, along with any independent candidates who gain access to the general ballot without running in the party primaries.

Voting in Primary Elections

Because a primary is strictly a party election, only voters registered with one of the parties conducting a primary may participate in that party's election. Voters registered without party affiliation may vote only in General and Special Elections.