ATTENTION SECOND HOMEOWNERS!
ELECTION DAY IS NOVEMBER 7, 2017
New York State law is clear. Citizens with second homes have the right to choose where they want to vote. Residents do not have to vote where they maintain their primary residence. See The New York Times article, "Weekenders Win a Round"
Second homeowners have a major stake in the Southold Town, but most have no say in how their tax dollars are being spent or in the decisions that will affect the future of this community for years to come.
NEW YORK STATE ELECTION LAW: The term ‘‘residence’’ shall be deemed to mean that place where a person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home and to which he, wherever temporarily located, always intends to return. For more information please visit NYS Board of Elections "Election Law".
In 1983 the New York State Court of Appeals affirmed a woman’s right to vote in Huntington, Long Island even though she lived elsewhere five days a week.
(Ferguson v. McNab, 60 N.Y.2d 598 N.Y 1983)
In 2008 the State Supreme Court ordered the Delaware County Board of Elections to reinstate eight weekend homeowners who had been stricken from the voting rolls. In his decision Judge Kevin M. Dowd said “The bottom line is… election officials are to establish that the prospective voters address is a real one and not a sham, and then to look at the expressed wishes of the voter.”
(Wilkie et al v. the Delaware County Board of Elections, No. 504004 NYS Sup. Crt App. 3d, Oct. 23, 2008)
If you vote by absentee ballot, you have to apply for an absentee ballot every year.
Download an absentee ballot application here, or pick one up at your county Board of Elections. October 31, 2017 is the last day to postmark an application for a ballot. The last day to apply for an absentee ballot in person is November 6, 2017.
Find a complete list of County Board of Elections offices here.
The complete New York State 2017 Political Calendar is here.
Suffolk County Board of Elections, Yaphank Avenue, P. O. Box 700,Yaphank, NY 11980
Phone: 631-852-4500/Fax: 631-852-4590
Will you be out of town on Election Day?
You can mail in your absentee ballot or vote by absentee ballot in person at the Suffolk County Board of Elections any weekday during regular business hours.
If you want to participate in the 2018 primaries, you must register as a Democrat or Republican by October 13, 2017!
Last year hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers were disappointed to find out that they could not vote in the presidential primaries because they weren’t a registered party member, don’t let that happen to you next year.