Make sure your vote counts

As Election Day approaches, here is important information you should know about casting a ballot on or before Nov. 4.

Make sure voting registration correct and up to date by searching through the state Board of Elections website at https://shorturl.at/gag4E. The link can be also be used to find a polling site as well as to track a mail-in ballot.

New York State offers early voting from Saturday Oct. 25 through Sunday Nov. 2. Information on early voting locations throughout Orange County can be found at https://shorturl.at/9X3co.

Skipping the physical polling place is an option via voting by mail using an absentee or early mail ballot. Absentee ballots require a reason why one is needed (such as illness or disability). According to the Orange County Board of Elections website, all applications requesting to receive an early mail ballot must be received by the board of elections in your county no later than 10 days before the election (which is Oct. 25). For early mail ballots to be received in-person, applications must be received no later than the day before the election (Nov. 3).

A recent change in law means that New York State voters can no longer cast a ballot on a voting machine if they have already been issued an absentee ballot for that election. Voters who have already been issued an absentee ballot can still vote in person using an affidavit ballot, however. Request one at your polling place if this is your reality.

Haven’t registered yet? The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 25.

Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Election Day. For more information, log onto the Orange County Board of Elections webpage at https://shorturl.at/PRvsi.