How to Save Time on Election Day

By Arthur Schwartz

OK. For whatever reason you didn’t vote absentee and you didn’t go to early voting. But you really want to vote on Tuesday, November 5. Think back to 2016. Lines at Village voting locations were up to an hour long. Do you have to wait that long? The answer is No! Just follow these simple rules.

Make sure you know where your polling location is. There is nothing like waiting on a line only to be told that your voting location was changed! Do a quick check. First, see if you saved that recent Board of Elections mailing which had your polling location, Assembly District (AD) and Election District (ED). If you can’t find it go to nycvotes.org and put in your address. It will give you your polling location, ED and AD.

Make sure you know your Election District. Polling locations are broken up into tables, with a sign for your ED. That is where you sign in (no ID required) and where you will be given a ballot to mark in a private booth.

DO NOT GET ON THE LONG LINE OUTSIDE THE POLLING PLACE IF YOU KNOW YOUR ED. That line goes to an Information Table, where they look up your ED and send you to another table to sign in. If you know your ED you can go right to your ED table. There may be a line there but it won’t be anywhere near as long.

If you need help seeing the ballot or have difficulties marking the ballot, ask to be directed to a ballot marking machine located at your polling site just for such issues. They are simple to use.

Make sure to turn over your ballot. There are six propositions on the ballot. Prop 1 asks whether we should amend the State Constitution to add an Equal Rights Amendment. There are five more ballot questions addressed to amending the NYC Charter. We discuss those on page 2 of the Village View. Don’t skip this step; make your vote count.