By Carol Tannenhauser
If you’re in one of the high-risk groups that could be most severely affected by the coronavirus, you might consider getting an absentee ballot that covers all the upcoming elections, from the April 28th Presidential Primaries through the November 3rd General Elections. It literally takes five minutes, though it does require that you print and mail your application, and thus, a stamp. Go to elections.ny.gov and they’ll walk you through it. But do it now. Applications must be postmarked no later than April 3rd and received by the Board of Elections no later than April 8th for you to be eligible to vote in the Primary. You can also go to vote.org — it’s just as easy.
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The ballot for absentee voting asks you to state the reason why you need an absentee ballot.
Which reason would you check if you were at high risk for the coronavirus?
Box #2 temporary illness or physical disability?
Same inquiry as Lynne Cashmere. Has the Board of Elections approved absentee voting for people at high risk for COVID-19? None of the categories on the printed forms clearly enables voting for this purpose.
It DOESN’T just require 5’ and a stamp! It STUPIDLY requires MAILING the completed application in time to meet the previously established deadlines for primaries/general election. Why the Board of Elections can’t join at least the late 20th c. and make the forms returnable by email is beyond me.
And then, long-established cynicism dictates that:
•mail pickups will be cut back, and
•the elections may well be postponed!
I mailed in requests for absentee ballots for people in my household 3 weeks ago and have not received anything back. Does anyone know how long this should normally take?
If you look at the County Board Map on the Absentee Voting Page for the link WSR linked to, each county has its own page and at least New York County (our county) has an email link.
elections.ny.gov/CountyBoards.html
voterreg@boe.nyc.ny.us