By Mia Antonini
It’s that time again—election season. Here’s a rundown of important dates and locations, registration information, and more. Be sure to click on the links below for more specific information.
Dates and Places to Know
Primary election day is Tuesday, June 27 — less than a month away — with polling locations open on the 27th from 6am until 9pm. If you want to cast your ballot early, the Early Voting Period is from June 17 until June 25. An important detail to note is that the primary elections for municipal office will use ranked-choice voting.
Looking ahead, General Elections will take place on Tuesday, November 7, from 6am until 9pm, with Early Voting from October 28 until November 5. For both elections, Early Voting hours depend on the day, with locations for both Early Voting and Election Day accessible through the Poll Site Locator from the Board of Elections.
What’s on the Ballot?
Being decided in the primaries are City Council, District Attorney (in the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island), and some judge and delegate positions.
For City Council in the Upper West Side’s District 6, running are Democrat incumbent Gale Brewer and Republican Diane di Stasio. Brewer and di Stasio were already advanced to the General Election round, and will not be on the Primary ballot this June. West Side Rag will profile both candidates in the days leading up to the general election, as well as look into local judicial races.
Registering to Vote
You can’t vote it you’re not registered! If you are unsure whether or not you are registered, you may either check the NYC Voter Search or call 1-866-868-3692. If you are not registered and plan to vote in the June primary elections, you must be registered by June 17, and by October 28 for the General Election. There are several ways to register, including by mail, in-person, and online. If you’ve moved, it is vital to indicate this change to the Board of Elections within 25 days of an address change.
In order to register to vote, you must be at least 18 by the end of the year; be a resident of the city for at least 30 days; not be deemed mentally incompetent under a court; be a U.S. citizen; not currently reside in prison due to a felony conviction; and, finally, not “claim the right” to vote outside NYC. If you are at least 16 years old and want to get a headstart on voter registration, you are able to preregister to vote and once 18, you will be automatically registered and be able to take part in your first eligible election.
Remember, if you did not provide identification with registration, you must bring at least one valid form of ID to your polling location when you vote. A valid form includes a driver’s license number, a non-driver’s license ID number, or the last four digits of your security number.
Absentee Voting
If you decide to use an Absentee Ballot to cast your vote, a ballot can be applied for through the Absentee Ballot Application Portal, and can be accessed in a variety of languages at the bottom of the Board of Elections’s Absentee Voting page. Deadlines for requesting an absentee ballot are June 12 for the Primary election and October 23 for the General Election. As outlined on the ballot request page, New York State voters are no longer mandated to use a voting machine to vote if already provided with an absentee ballot; however, if voters with an absentee ballot do choose to vote in person, they are permitted to do so through an affidavit ballot. The Accessible Absentee Ballot Application is also available as an option for voters with visual impairments or other disabilities if they want to request a ballot with accessible features; however, these voters must print their own ballot. These Absentee Applications should be completed on paper and either brought to or mailed to their local borough office.
In order to vote through an absentee ballot, one must be unable to vote in person due to experiencing or being a primary caregiver to someone experiencing illness or disability (whether temporary or permanent), absence from country (or NYC) on election day, being a “resident or patient of a Veterans Health Hospital” or being in jail or prison due to a cause other than felony conviction.
Be sure to stay tuned to the WSR for more election updates and information!
(Thanks to Phyllis for the reminder.)
So if we’re district 6, is there NOTHING to vote for in the primary? It’s all decided? Or are there judge/delegate positions being contested in the primary?
Was wondering the same thing… I’ve tried to search for a sample ballot at “Vote411” and the NYC Board of Elections website and have found no information.
Thought Gale Brewer’s terms are limited. How could she be eligible to run yet again? Regardless this currently registered and life-long Democrat will be voting for Diane di Stasio. Let’s hope the rest of this district wakes up and does the same!! Our neighborhood cannot afford two more years of pro-crime agenda and that’s what Gale can only offer. #BadNewsNYCDemocrats
I’m confused, Madd Donna. The term limits are 2 terms and these half terms count together as 1 term, so she can (and likely will) run for re-election in 2023 and then again in 2025 before being term limited again. Good luck, I predicted Brewer will crush it in this election. Nancy Sliwa (a name with a lot more name recognition) got only 13% in 2021. The last Republican to run for this seat in 2017 only got 10.0%. If she gets more than 15%, it would be a huge result for a campaign that just started last month.
My understanding is that each city council member is subject to term limits that prohibit them from serving more than 2 consecutive terms. However, the way the law is drafted, a city council member can serve their 2 terms, move onto another elected office, and then come back and run for their old city council seat again (and if elected, be subject to the 2 term, term limit). This is why you see many of our local politicians cycling through one elected office after another.
Term limits was supposed to open things up and prevent career politicians from monopolizing things.
That was how things were supposed to work in theory. In practice term limits in NYC has created noting but a game of political musical chairs.
Same cast of characters from city council look around for another office they can be elected to if term limited out of current. That and or once one of their political buddies becomes mayor lobby for a commissioners office or another political appointment.
Term limits wouldn’t be necessary but for the massive levels of voter apathy both in local and state elections.
People kvetch and moan all year long, but on one day they can make a difference they’ve got better things to do.
Same here. Enough is enough.
All talk and no action (and I am part of this). We spend hours complaining here then do nothing. Everyone is unhappy with Brewer yet no one does anything about her. Hopefully diStasio is legit and is smart enough to operate in the middle and swear off Trumpism. I am skeptical.
Evidently, “everyone” is not unhappy with Brewer.
Speak with your vote! If we are unhappy with Brewer we must take action to make a change!
This is the time to talk to friends, neighbors, coworkers about fixing our neighborhood with our votes! If we sit back, things will continue to get worse. Let’s change things up on the UWS. We cannot do worse than what we have now.
People either don’t vote or vote for the ‘progressive ‘ candidate. Then they are shocked when they get assaulted on the street.
It wasn’t easy decision for me last November but I, life-long Democrat, voted Republican for the first time.
I don’t identify with Republican platform as I’m anti-gun and pro-choice. However, I see many Republicans including Di Stasio moving away from Trump. I don’t see any of our elected Dem leaders moving away from criminal-coddling and enabling behavior. I don’t want New York to become San Francisco but we are very close thanks to them.
I worked hard to be able to live on UWS, and I can’t afford paying for tens of thousands of migrants being housed for free for the reason we are not even explained All the migrants before the current administration, legal or not, weren’t expected to be provided with free housing and services. If my taxes are any higher, I can no longer live here.
Don’t get me started on the endless homeless shelters. Drunk, aggressive, mentally ill are on every corner. It is not just unpleasant, as some might say and jump my throat, it is unsafe and abnormal.
That’s why I no longer care about my ideological views. It is the matter of survival now.
DiStasio needs to put it front and center on her web site and other media that she is only running as a Republican to win, but that she is not aligned with Trump and his MAGA crazies in Washington. It doesn’t seem like she has taken a lot of positions yet. I am strongly opposed to Brewer but want to be certain that DiStasio is not a Trumper.
There are many Republicans out there who are politically homeless on the national level. They hate Trump and what he did to their party. But many are quite moderate, and would serve as a reasonable balance to the out-of-control far left here. Hopefully that is what she is. The election is not far away – DiStasio really has to ramp things up if she wants to have a chance, because running as “Not Gale Brewer” will get her some votes but it will not win it for her.
Can you add some information about those of us in District 7 (which includes quite a few people who were redistricted from 6 this past winter)?
Wow, once again, another primary on a Friday, the last day of school…low voter turnout…so much for effecting any meaningful change. So well-planned and orchestrated..
I have spoken to Diane Di Stasio and she is a true Moderate and is also running on the Independent party line CLEAN UP NY. It is for everything we need – clean safe streets.
From her own website: “Diane is the daughter of first generation Italian immigrants. Her father spent his first career proudly serving in the American armed forces, which meant that Diane had to move around a lot, growing up mostly on military bases. And while she has since graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music, performed at Carnegie Hall, won an Emmy Award, collaborated with the legendary Ray Charles, and spent the past ten years working as Managing Director for the Ellison Ballet Foundation where she oversees a multimillion dollar annual budget – Diane’s greatest accomplishment to date has been being a mother.”
She is a true Upper West Sider, a single working mother, who has lived and worked here for years with compassion but wants us to have our neighborhood back to feeling safe again. It will be worth your time to go meet her if you still have questions.
She is a Republican, and Republicans can’t be trusted. They have proved this time and again. I don’t care if she has “NEVER TRUMP” tattooed on her forehead; she’s a Republican and can — and likely will — change her mind the day after she’s elected. That’s the team she picked, and I assume she knows why she picked that team. She’s a Republican, Trump controls the Republicans, and I can’t vote for Trump.
And I, like so many others here, cannot vote for the Democrats. Again.
So who do I vote for? There isn’t anyone. “Voter apathy”? Not at all. Call it “voter disgust” if you like.
The fact that my children are not safe simply going to and from school made it an easy decision for me for whom to vote They have to encounter tens of aggressive homeless within several blocks on their way to school. Yet Gale Brewer is ecstatic about opening more shelters including low-barrier and high-capacity. My children are now only taking a bus, simple walk is dangerous. Can we go any lower?
I’m anti-gun, but let’s get realistic – there are lots of illegal guns and there are shootings every day. We stopped harsh penalties for gun possession, we no longer frisk, hence the result.
I’m not even mentioning that my taxes are growing, I have to work more hours, but single male able-bodied migrants are smoking pot in Central Park wearing expensive sneakers I can’t afford for my children.
Elections have consequences, our leaders were given a chance after a chance, but they don’t care about their constituents, they are all for scoring political goals with each other.
My choice is clear – no more Brewer and her ilk.
Is there even a primary election being held in Districts 6 and 7?
The council candidates are running unopposed. Can you tell us what to
expect if there is a primary vote held in these districts? Note that the city produced pamphlet listing candidates is out of date…because some have dropped out in various districts. Could you post an update to this story, perhaps?
Thank you, WSR. Readers rely on you.
I see comments saying that DiStasio is “moving away from Trump and MAGA.” That is not enough. She must denounce Jan 6 and come out and say that the rioters who entered the Capitol that day committed crimes. I will then happily vote for her. Otherwise, I will stay home.
I emailed Diane Di Stasio on the topic of Jan 6th and I am happy to report her reply to me:
“What occurred on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021 was a blatant attack on our democracy, the rule of law, and our nearly 250 year tradition of peaceful transfers of power. It was also an attack on law enforcement. No matter what political tribe you subscribe to, I have zero tolerance for anyone who puts the lives of our police and civilians in unnecessary danger. That being said, I am a firm believer in due process, and the independence of our judicial system. Anyone convicted of crimes on January 6, 2021 should not be pardoned, or have their sentences commuted.”
I thought this was important to share.
Here’s another thing…
Unless one is prepared to cross party lines it is the *PRIMARY* vote that matters. This holds true for local city council and state senate or assembly races.
Thanks to a combination of gerrymandering of districts and huge helpings of voter apathy whoever wins primary election for a district is nearly 99,9% certain of carrying general election in November.
Also for those who believe political machines went away with Tammany Hall should think again. Both democrat and republican political machines in NYC have huge control over who gets on ballot for election to judge offices.
Thanks for the reminder!
Thank you for linking to Di Stasio’s site. She actually might get my vote. She supports reproductive rights, giving judges discretion to set bail and overhauling zoning. I’m sold.
We need new blood, fresh ideas, and someone who is willing to hold our Manhattan DA accountable. Go Diane!!!