Your Rights As a Voter

You have the right to vote if:

  • You registered to vote in New York by the deadline
  • You are inside your polling place no later than 9 p.m. on Election Day.

In any election, you have a right to:

  • Be assisted by any person of your choice (except your employer or union representative), including a trained poll worker, if you need help to vote. If you need an interpreter, BOE interpreters are available to assist voters at selected sites. In New York City, please call 866-VOTE-NYC for more information, including which polling sites have interpreters available and for which languages.
  • Ask election workers how to vote.
  • Bring materials with you, including the Voter Guide. (Please take these materials away with you when you finish voting.)
  • Vote even if the scanner is broken.
  • Vote by “affidavit ballot” if your name is missing from the list of voters at your polling site.

ELECTION DAY ASSISTANCE

If you have any trouble voting, DO NOT SIMPLY LEAVE THE POLLS. The New York Civil Liberties Union stands ready to assist New Yorkers as they cast their ballots.

Contact the NYCLU:

In New York City or statewide: 212.607.3300
In the Albany/Capital region: 518.436.8594
In the Syracuse/Central New York region: 315.471.2821
In the Rochester/Genesee Valley region: 585.454.4334
In the Nassau County region: 516.741.8520
In the Suffolk County region: 631.650.2301
In the Westchester/Lower Hudson Valley region: 914.997.7479
In the Buffalo/Western region: 716.852.4033

Additional Resources (some of whom will also help while you are still at the polls):

ELECTION PROTECTION COALITION: (866) OUR-VOTE; http://www.866ourvote.org
NEW YORK STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS: (800) FOR-VOTE
NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF ELECTIONS: (866) VOTE-NYC
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE: (800) 253-3931
ACLU VOTING RIGHTS PROJECT: (877) 523-2792; http://www.votingrights.org
NEW YORK PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH GROUP: (212) 349-6460