Elections and Voter Information

Elections and Voter Information

Everything you need to know to be an informed voter.

Voter Services March 2024 ReportVoter Services Feb. 2024 ReportChange Coming for Local Elections |Voter Publications How We Elect Our Representatives | Candidate Forum Policy | Links to Local Boards | City Council and Town Board Meetings | Schenectady County Legislature Meetings | State-Wide Politics and Financial Disclosures

Voter Services March 2024 Report

Meeting with Board of Elections

Ann Hatke and I had a productive meeting with the Board of Elections (BOE) on February

6th. The Republican and Democratic Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners were all there.

The BOE goes into most of the high schools in Schenectady County to talk about voting. To make the presentations interesting, the BOE holds an election to determine the students’ favorite ice cream.

We discovered that the BOE has also been excluded from county-held ceremonies recognizing naturalized citizens- we had thought it was only the League that was excluded. They weren't sure that voter registration forms were even being distributed at the ceremonies. Definitely time to meet with the County Legislature!

The BOE agreed to give us a list of all newly registered voters to aid in our Get Out the Vote efforts. We hope to contact people to encourage them to vote.

Ann asked the Commissioners whether they would be interested in presenting a program, sponsored by the League, about voting, perhaps with a focus on election integrity. They were quite receptive to the idea and thought September would be a good time, when voters are more focused on the upcoming election.

Voter Registration

We have new additions to our voter registration schedule. We have drives scheduled for the Schenectady Greenmarket on 3/24, Fulton-Montgomery Community College on 3/26 and 4/30 and the Kids Arts Festival on 6/1. We’re also expecting to do a voter registration event at SUNY Schenectady soon. Sign up at Voter Registration.

Cheryl Nechamen Voter Services Chair

Back To Top    

 

Voter Services Feb. 2024 Report

February 14: deadline to change party enrollment

April 2: Presidential Primary Election

              Early voting from March 23- March 30

June 25: Primary Elections for US Congress, NYS Assembly and NYS Senate

              Early voting from June 15- June 23

November 5: General Election for President, Congress, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate

              Early voting from October 26- November 3

Update on Changes to Local Elections

Our latest guidance from the NYS League of Women Voters is that the recently enacted changes to local elections, moving town elections to even-numbered years, will take effect January 1, 2025. In practical terms, currently elected town officials will have their terms extended for one year. Of course, if you are an elected official, check with the Board of Elections to make sure this is the case. City and village elections will remain in odd-numbered years.

Voter Registration

We’re off to a quick start in voter registration efforts for 2024. We’ll be tabling at the Schenectady Greenmarket on February 4 and 25 and on March 24. Shifts are either 9:30-noon or noon-2 PM. Sign up at LWV Voter Registration.

Get Out the Vote (GOTV)

The Voter Services Committee met on January 10th to brainstorm ideas to increase voter turnout in 2024. They came up with many great ideas. We’ll be focusing on publicizing early voting sites, dates and times by putting up lots of flyers wherever people gather. We hope to recruit college students to help us put up flyers. We also plan to distribute early voting information and voter registration forms to community groups to hand out to their members. To assess how effective our GOTV efforts are, we plan to compare 2 similar election districts in the City of Schenectady, with or without a door-to-door campaign of distributing voting information.

Cheryl Nechamen Voter Services Chair

Back to Top

Change Coming for Local Elections

Governor Hochul recently signed a bill moving some local elections, previously held in odd-numbered years, to even-numbered years. The rationale behind the bill was that presidential and gubernatorial elections, held in even-numbered years, see a much higher voter turnout than that seen in local elections.

As League members, we know how important local elections are- these are the elected officials most accessible to voters, legislating on issues that affect us on a daily basis. So, in that regard, this may be a good move, if it means more people voting for local officials.

The new law will not affect all local elections. Elections in cities and villages and races for county clerk, sheriff, district attorney and judges will remain in odd-numbered years. This will change the League’s approach to scheduling candidate forums. We might end up holding forums every year since we cover elections in the city of Schenectady and the village of Scotia (odd-numbered years) and the towns of Rotterdam, Glenville and Niskayuna (even-numbered years).

We should be getting guidance from the State League soon, including when the law will take effect.

Cheryl Nechamen

Voting Services Chair

Back To Top



VOTER INFORMATION PUBLICATIONS:

 

FIRST VOTE:

English    Spanish

 YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE IN NEW YOUR STATE:

College Students Brochure  

Individuals with Disabilities Brochure

Homeless Individuals Brochure

Individuals with Mental Health Disabilities Brochure 

Individuals with Criminal Convictions and Those Detained in Jail or Prison Brochure

Back To Top

 

How We Elect Our Representatives

Do you know how we elect our Representatives?  Why not PDF icon test your skills.

Back To Top

 

Candidate Forum Policy 2023

Goal:  To educate voters on the issues; to stimulate voter interest; to encourage voter participation in elections; to present programs in a nonpartisan manner.

  1. All candidates for office who meet New York State election law requirements to be on the ballot are eligible to take part in candidate forums. No substitutes will be permitted to take the place of the candidate.

 2.  These forums are nonpartisan.  The League does not endorse, support or oppose candidates or political parties.

 3.  Candidates for office who have no opponents will be invited to talk with individual members of the audience at the conclusion of the forum but will be unable to participate in the formal part of the forum.  These candidates will be recognized if they attend and the reason they are not speaking will be explained.

 4.  The format of the forum is as follows:

  • Index cards will be distributed to the audience and they will be invited to submit a question.  Questions will be collected by League members.
  • Questions will be screened by League members to eliminate inappropriate questions (personal attacks, etc.), to consolidate repetitious questions and to allow for questions on a variety of issues pertinent to the race.  Questions may be rewritten for clarity.
  • Questions will be transmitted to the moderator. 
  • Each candidate will be given two minutes for an opening statement and one minute for a closing statement.
  • After the opening statements, candidates in each race will be asked questions from the audience via the moderator.  Each candidate will be asked the same question.  The order of questioning will be varied.  Each candidate is given one minute to answer each question and is given a visual notification of 30 seconds remaining and of the ending of their time limits. 
  • Candidates will be seated in alphabetical order by last name; the order of questioning will be varied.

5.  No video or audiotaping of candidate debates, or parts thereof, is permitted except by those previously authorized by the League of Women Voters to officially record the event.

6.  Candidates’ literature will be allowed to be distributed on tables placed near the entrance to the forum location.

7.  The League reserves the right to cancel the forum if circumstances warrant.

8.  Candidates will be sent copies of these policies when they are invited to participate in the forum. Any subsequent changes to the program format will be communicated to the candidates prior to t he program.

Approved 5/10/2023

Back To Top

Local Boards of Elections

Schenectady County Board of Elections 2696 Hamburg Street Schenectady, NY 12303 518-377-2469

New York State Board of Elections 40 North Pearl St. Suite 5 Albany, NY 12207-2729 518-474-6220 Email: INFO [at] elections.ny.gov

Back To Top

City Council and Town Board Meetings

Schenectady City Council meets the 2nd and 4th Mondays at the City Hall, 7 p.m.

Glenville Town Board meets the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at the Municipal Center, 7:30 p.m.

Rotterdam Town Board meets the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at Assembly Hall, 7:30 p.m.

Niskayuna Town Board: Call 518-386-4592 for the schedule.

Back To Top

Schenectady County Legislature Meetings

The Schenectady County Legislature meets the 2nd Tuesdays in the County Office Building at 7 p.m.
 
 

Local and State-Wide Political Information

Click here for political information about the City and County of Schenectady, the Capital District Area, and Statewide Politics.

The above is a web-site maintained by the SCHENECTADY DIGITAL HISTORY ARCHIVE, a service of the Schenectady County Public Library.