By Dan Murphy
This year’s primary election, to be held on June 23, is confusing to voters for several reasons. The Coronavirus has made going out to the polls to vote something that many voters will just not do.
To avoid requiring voters in New York State from having to leave their home to vote, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued an order giving every voter the right to request an absentee ballot. Most voters in Yonkers should already have received their absentee ballot application.
If you want to vote in the primary on June 23, and do it by mail, you must request a ballot by filling out the application and mail it back to the Board of Elections. The BOE will then mail you back an actual ballot, and Yonkers democrats will be able to vote for Congress, District Attorney, and City Court Judge.
But if you want to vote in person, you can still do so. Your polling place may be different this year because of COVID, so you will have to check with the BOE, or we will try to tell you of the polling places in Yonkers when they become available.
Some voters are worried that their ballots may never get to them because of poor post office service. Greenburgh Supervisor Paul Feiner is worried about just that, and has complained about poor post office service for some time.
Other voters are worried that somehow, someone else will be able to get their ballot and use it to vote for a candidate that they want to elect. Adding to this fear is President Donald Trump, who has Tweeted against mail in voting, despite the fact that as a resident of Florida, (he changed his residence from New York last year) he will be casting a vote by mail, or absentee.
“Mail in ballots substantially increase the risk of crime and voter fraud,” and “There is no way that mail in ballots will be antyhing less than substantially fraudulent, This will be a riggest election,”Tweeted the President this week, after the States of Michigan and Nevada moved towards making mail in voting easier.
The President’s Tweets may make some voters in Yonkers nervous because most voters have never voted by Absentee ballot because in New York, you are required to give a reason why you can’t go to the polls and why you are requesting an absentee ballot.
For the upcoming June 23 Primary, you still have to check a box for a reason why you want an absentee ballot. But you can check,
Temporary Illness, as a reason this year, due to COVID.
Yonkers democrats will also be voting for a Presidential candidate, after a Judge ordered that the NY State Democratic Party conduct a Presidential Primary even though everyone except for Joe Biden dropped out. This will give you the chance to vote for Bernie or Bloomberg or Yang, or one of the others if you want to, or for Biden.
There are rumblings in Yonkers that someone may try to influence the outcome of the election by collecting absentee balltots and marking them for the candidate of their choice. This is called ballot harvesting or ballot collection and it is illegal in New York.
If you fill out your absentee ballot, seal it in an envelope, and then give it to someone else to deliver or mail to the Board of Elections, that is Ballot Harvesting, because the person collecting your ballot is harvesting a number of ballots in the hopes of electing the candidate of their choice.
You also cannot be paid to cast your vote, either in person or by absentee ballot. That includes getting paid in cash or by Gift Card, its against the law.
We have been told that the most ballots that anyone can turn in at a time is three, but we will confirm this with the Board of Elections.
One friend at the BOE told us, “If someone comes in with a bunch of ballots we will be taking a good look at them. We never want any fraud in our elections but especially this year.”
One other election reminder, early voting will be happening again this year in New York and in Yonkers, 10 days before the June 23 Primary. We will verify the polling locations for early voting and for voting on Primary Day and will report back.
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