The clock is officially ticking, New York!
Early voting wraps up this Sunday, November 1, and there’s a real chance the spot where you vote early isn’t the same place you usually head on Election Day.
Before you lace up, pop your address into the NYC poll site locator to see your early voting site, your Election Day site and your sample ballot, all in one place.
Your site is tied to the home address you have registered with the Board of Elections, and poll sites can shuffle around from one election to the next.
So even if you could find your neighborhood school or community center with your eyes closed, it’s worth a 30-second check before you go.
Bonus: vote.nyc also runs a live wait time map, which is pretty handy for dodging the after-work rush.
Early voting hours for the rest of the week
Here’s the catch: early voting hours change from day to day.
According to the city’s 311 early voting guide, here’s what’s left on the schedule:
- Wednesday, October 28: 10 AM to 8 PM
- Thursday, October 29: 8 AM to 4 PM
- Friday, October 30: 9 AM to 5 PM
- Saturday, October 31: 9 AM to 5 PM
- Sunday, November 1: 9 AM to 5 PM
Thursday is the early bird of the bunch, wrapping up at 4 PM, so don’t bank on a post-work stop that day. Halloween voters, you’ve got until 5 PM before the costumes come out.
Missed the early window? Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, and polls are open from 6 AM to 9 PM.
The golden rule: if you’re in line by 9 PM, you get to vote.
Don’t forget to flip your ballot over
This year’s ballot is two-sided, and the back is where a lot of people slip up.
The front covers the big statewide races for governor and lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller, plus your local picks for Congress, the State Legislature and some judges.
The back holds five yes-or-no questions that would change parts of the City Charter. They come from the city’s Commission on Government Efficiency, and each one gets its own vote:
- Outdoor dining and ramps: a faster approval process for sidewalk cafes and accessible entrance ramps
- City contracting: less paperwork for small businesses and nonprofits that work with the city
- Street safety and surplus property: quicker timelines for projects like bike lanes, plus selling off unused city lots and air rights
- Construction permits: 40 separate approvals rolled into one place
- Rainy-day savings: a target to set aside 12% of tax revenue for the city’s long-term savings
Another thing that throws people off: you might spot the same candidate’s name more than once.
That’s because New York uses fusion voting, which lets candidates run on more than one party line.
Your sample ballot at vote.nyc shows exactly what you’ll see in the booth, and the Times Union’s ballot lookup lets you plug in an address to see the races in your district. A few minutes on your couch now can save you a lot of squinting later.
What actually happens at your poll site
The whole thing moves faster than you’d think. A poll worker looks up your name in the poll book (or scans your Fast Pass), you sign in, and you’re handed a paper ballot.
Fill it out with a pen in a privacy booth, then feed it into the scanner. That’s it.
The Fast Pass is a tag the Board of Elections mails out with its voter information packet. It holds your voter details and speeds up check-in, but you absolutely don’t need it to vote.
A few more things worth knowing:
- First-time voters who didn’t provide ID when they registered will need to show it at the poll site
- Voters who need disability assistance can ask any poll worker for help
- Some sites offer interpretation services, and you can call the Board ahead of time to see if yours does
Prefer to vote from your couch?
Every New Yorker can vote by mail, no excuse needed, as NYC Votes explains. The online and mail request deadline passed on October 24, but you can still request a mail ballot in person at a Board of Elections office through Monday, November 2.
Once it’s filled out, either mail it with a postmark no later than Election Day, or drop it in a ballot box at a poll site in your county or a Board of Elections office by 9 PM on November 3.
One heads-up: the voter registration deadline was also October 24, so it has already passed for this election.
Who to call with questions
Still stuck? The Board of Elections has a few ways to reach a real person:
- Voter Phone Bank: 1-866-VOTE-NYC (1-866-868-3692)
- Calling from outside NYC: 1-212-VOTE-NYC (1-212-868-3692)
- TDD/TTY: dial 711 for the New York State Relay
You can also stop by your borough’s Board of Elections office:
- Manhattan: 200 Varick Street
- Brooklyn: 345 Adams Street
- Queens: 118-35 Queens Boulevard, Forest Hills
- The Bronx: 1780 Grand Concourse
- Staten Island: 1 Edgewater Plaza
Want the whole ballot broken down in Layman’s terms? This NYC ballot explainer walks through it race by race.
Now go make your voice heard, New York.