LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Get registered to vote right now

Posted

To the editor:

(re: “Can’t come out on election day? Vote early,” Oct. 3)

New York took a small step away from depressing voter turnout toward increasing it and strengthening our democracy.

Gov. Cuomo recently signed a bill that reduced the gap between party primaries and the deadline to register in a party in order to have a voice in choosing a party’s candidates. New York had the longest gap in the nation between its primaries and the deadline for being able to vote in its primaries until that bill was signed.

Had it not been changed, a New Yorker would have had to have been registered by Oct. 11 of this year in order to vote in New York’s presidential primaries, which will take place in April next year. Oct. 11 of this year also was the deadline to be able to vote in the primaries for the New York state legislature and the U.S. House of Representatives, which will take place in June of next year.

The Democratic and Republican party primaries are the real elections in many parts of New York and in other states. For example, whoever gets the Democratic nomination is almost certain to be elected to any office in the Bronx which is up for a vote.

This deadline applies to both New Yorkers who have registered in a minor party, and to those who did not specify any party when they registered. Many people do not check off a party when they register as a result of rushing or as a statement that they are open-minded enough not to be bound by the choice of the party they favor.

They have done studies of voters who do not register in a party and found that such voters usually vote for candidates of the same major party each time they vote. The number of truly independent voters who toggle between Democrats and the Republicans is small.

Unfortunately, people do not begin to think about party registration until it gets close to an election and they get excited about a candidate. By then, in New York, it was too late to do anything about it.

The shortened deadline was the result of hard work by pro-democracy activists, especially the New York Progressive Action Network. They were aiming for a deadline, which would occur one month before a primary and fell short, but this is a step in the right direction.

When incumbents lose in a primary, increased turnout in new voters is often part of the story so this is a chance which many incumbents are not crazy about.

There were rumors that Gov. Cuomo was not going to sign the bill, and that it took the possibility of a complaint to the Democratic National Committee by Bernie Sanders to get him to act.

If you are not registered in a major party, your chance to vote in their presidential primaries in April or their primaries for New York state legislature and the House would have been gone with the wind on Oct. 11. Now you have until the new deadline — Feb. 14 — to make the change.

Don’t procrastinate and wind up forgetting. Just go to Elections.ny.gov to print the form you need to mail to the elections board. Give democracy and yourself an early Valentine’s Day present.

Make the change.

Gene Binder

 

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Gene Binder,

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