Election Day 2024: Voter rights and information

November 5, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

"I voted" stickers are seen in the Polk County Election Office during early voting, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, in Des Moines, Iowa. Photo: Charlie Neibergall/AP

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Ahead of today’s election, state Attorney General Letitia James has released a guide for new and returning voters. On Election Day, polls are required to be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., and if voters are in line before closing, they must be allowed to vote. Remain in line after 9 p.m.; you must be allowed to vote. All mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5 and received by the Board of Elections by Nov. 12.

City residents can visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc to find their voting site. If your name does not appear on the list of voters when you are at your voting site, but you believe you are at the right location and table and are eligible to vote, you have the right to request, fill out and submit an affidavit ballot, which will be counted after verification by officials.

New Yorkers do not have to show photo I.D. to vote, but there is a chance some new voters may be asked to verify their identities via utility bills, bank statements, paychecks or other government documents. If you don’t have access to any such documents, you have the right to fill out an affidavit ballot.

All registered voters have the right to accessible elections. Disabled voters have the right to reasonable accommodations, potentially including assistance from friends, relatives and/or poll workers, the use of certain assistive devices provided by poll workers, and the use of chairs, helpers or line fast-tracking for those who cannot stand for long periods.

Voters who do not speak English fluently have the right to assistance from another person of their choosing, even if this person is not a U.S. citizen or an adult, so long as the helper is not an agent of their employer or union. In Brooklyn, all voters also have the right to election materials and oral assistance from poll workers in Spanish and Chinese. Some poll sites will also have additional languages available, based on Census information; a list of sites with language options can be found online on the city’s election website. Voters in some areas of Brooklyn might have the option for Arabic, Haitian, Russian, Urdu, Polish, Italian, Bengali, Korean or Yiddish language services.

In addition, all registered voters have the right to vote free from coercion or intimidation, whether by election officials or any other person. Voter intimidation can include threatening behavior in or outside a polling place, posing as law enforcement, releasing personal information about voters, financial coercion, overly aggressive poll watcher challenges, recording voter activity within polling places and a host of other behaviors intended to chill civic participation.

It is possible that your eligibility to vote may be challenged by poll watchers or others. If this happens, an election inspector will administer an oath, ask you questions about things like competency or residency issues and then potentially require a second oath over specific disputes. If you do not answer the inspector’s questions or refuse to swear the oaths, you will not be permitted to vote.

If you believe you are experiencing intimidation, or any other voting rights issue, or are in need of assistance, A.G. James’ office is operating an election hotline from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day at (866) 390-2992.

More voter resources are available online on the Attorney General’s website.

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