From the St Lawrence County League of Women Voters:
The 2023 General Election is just around the corner and there have been some changes to state election law. The voter registration deadline is now only ten days before the election and coincides with the first day of Early Voting. This means New Yorkers can now both register to vote and cast an affidavit ballot on that day, a significant reform!
A second change establishes a system for early voting by mail. It makes permanent the highly successful “no excuses” ballot that was introduced during the pandemic emergency. This new law has been challenged, but the League believes that it will be found to comply with the NYS Constitution.
This year’s elections are mostly for local offices, although county voters will also be voting for County Clerk and County Sherriff and a State Supreme Court judge. State and national elections naturally get far more attention than local ones, but your local officials are directly responsible for making the laws and regulations that affect your community. So, pay attention to this year’s elections!
You can find a sample ballot for your own voting district on the Board of Elections website https://stlawco.org/Departments/BoardofElections.
Early voting this year will be available from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5. In SLC, there are two places to vote early: 42 Maple St. in Potsdam (next to Kinney Drugs), or 100 Riverside Ave, Ogdensburg (the Dobisky Center). Of course, you can always cast your ballot on Election Day at your regular polling place on Tuesday, November 7 from 6 am to 9 pm.
St. Lawrence County
General Election
Early Voting Hours
10.28.2023 9AM-5PM
10.29.2023 9AM-5PM
10.30.2023 9AM-5PM
10.31.2023 9AM-8PM
11.01.2023 9AM-5PM
11.02.2023 9AM-8PM
11.03.2023 9AM-5PM
11.04.2023 9AM-5PM
11.05.2023 9AM-5PM
As of this year, if you cast a ballot during the early voting period, or by absentee ballot, you will not be allowed to change your vote on Election Day. See the SLC BOE website for information on requesting an absentee ballot: https://stlawco.gov/Departments/BoardofElections/ Feel free to contact me if you have other questions or would like a voter registration form or absentee ballot application.
Two Ballot Proposals to Amend the State Constitution
Finally, this year New Yorkers will be asked to vote on two ballot proposals to amend the State Constitution: these proposals will be printed on the back of your ballot.
The first proposal would make the debt limitations placed on small city school districts the same as those for all other school districts; the second would extend for another ten years the authority of local governments to remove from their debt limits debt incurred for the construction of sewage facilities. Public schools, and sewage facilities, like taxes, matter to all of us. So remember: VOTE! IT COUNTS!
Feel free to contact me if you have other questions or would like a voter registration form or absentee ballot application.
Kathleen Stein, President, LWV SLC
Convener LWV NYS Rural Caucus
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