A Message From New York Women Vote

Issues of access to, and quality of child care, are important to millions of New York women. We want to make sure that your voice is heard during the upcoming elections. Please see the message below from New York Women Vote: 

POLITICIANS PAY ATTENTION TO VOTERS

You build clout for your work and your mission by encouraging your supporters and clients to register and vote.

Elected officials are human – they respond, like most people, to those people who care about the things that they do, and, of course, those who support them. A community or group of residents who don’t vote, or who vote in low numbers, make it easier for elected officials to de-prioritize their concerns.

Issues that matter to marginalized communities often are the first to fall to the budget axe, if they're addressed at all. If we're going to be sure that these issues get the attention they deserve from elected officials, we've got to build clout by insuring that all eligible New Yorkers are civically engaged and VOTE!

Your Vote Counts

Too many people are under the mistaken impression that their vote doesn’t count. But it is the alarming fact that so few people vote in most elections that getting an additional 200 or 300 hundred people to vote can make a huge difference.

In some contested primary elections, fewer than 2,500 people in total vote. Imagine the impact of just 200 additional votes in these recent close elections:

• AD89 (2010 Westchester) - Robert Castelli won by 112 votes out of 42,414 cast
• AD100 (2010 Mid-Hudson) - Thomas Kirwan defeated the incumbent by 15 votes out of 31,267 cast
• SD27 (2012 South Brooklyn) - David Storobin leads Lew Fidler by 27 votes going into a hand recount

Registration is the First Step to Voting

In the U.S., no one can vote if they don't first register. In order to register to vote in New York State you must:

• Be at least 18 years old by the date of the election
• Be a citizen of the United States
• Be a resident of New York State
• Have lived at your current address for at least 30 days before an election

You can obtain a registration form to print out and mail in at this website: http://www.elections.ny.gov/VotingRegister.html

Because there are three more elections coming up this year, there are three different deadlines to register. Registration forms need to be postmarked or registrations completed in person at the local Board of Elections by the deadline in order to be able to vote for the upcoming elections.

Registration Deadline	June 26: Congressional Primary	September 11: State Legislative Primary	November 6: Presidential General Elections
June 1
August 17
October 12

*Anyone registering before any of these deadlines is eligible to vote in the November election.

Helpful Links:

• Find your polling place
• A good resource for voting information in New York is the League of Women Voters and their "How to Conduct a Successful Voter Registration Drive" booklet.

*Download and share the above information from New York Women Vote Coalition.

National and Local Voter registration Laws to be Aware of:

National Voter Registration Act (Section 7, Agency-based Voter Registration)

Section 7 of the NVRA requires state public assistance agencies to provide voter registration services to applicants and clients. Such offices that must provide services include those administering benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. New York State additionally designated the Department of Social Services, the Department of Health, and “all agencies of local government that provide such assistance.”

Certain state-funded agencies must also provide voter registration services. They are: Department of Labor, Office for the Aging, Division of Veterans’ Affairs, Offices of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities, Commission on Quality of Care for the Mentally Disabled, Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Office of the Advocate for the Disabled, and “all offices which administer programs established or funded by such agencies.”

The NVRA requires that voter registration services be provided with each application, recertification or renewal, or change of address related to benefits. With each such application, recertification or renewal, and change of address relating to benefits, a public assistance agency must:

Provide the individual with a voter registration application;

• Provide the individual with a form, commonly called a “Declination Form,” that contains the question, “If you are not registered to vote where you live now, would you like to apply to register to vote here today?” along with several other statutorily-required statements;
• Provide each client choosing to register with the same degree of assistance in completing the voter registration application as would be provided in completing the agency’s own forms; and
• Transmit all completed voter registration applications to the appropriate election official within a prescribed amount of time.

New York City Pro-Voter Law  

New York City passed the Pro-Voter Law in 2003 to help increase voter participation. A wide array of city agencies must now offer voter registration forms to all persons together with: 1) written applications for services, 2) renewal or recertification for services, and 3) changes of address relating to such services. Participating agencies must also include voter registration forms with mailings relating to client application, renewal, or recertification for services, or changes of address. Online communications relating to application for services, renewal or recertification for services, and change of address relating to such services must also incorporate an opportunity for persons to request a voter registration application.

City agencies that must offer voter registration forms:

The Administration for Children's Services, the City Clerk,  the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the  Commission on Human Rights, Community Boards, the Department of Small Business Services, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Correction, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Finance, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department of Homeless Services, the Department of Housing Preservation and  Development, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Probation, the Taxi and Limousine Commission, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Youth and Community Development.

*Thanks to Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause New York and a member of the New York Women Vote Coalition, for writing most of the sections of this InfoNet. 

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NEW YORK WOMEN VOTE (NYWV)

FPWA has joined a recently formed coalition to increase the engagement of women voters in the city and state called NY Women Vote (NYWV). The Mission and Principles of NYWV are:

Mission

We leverage our collective power to set a bold agenda by and for women, transcending political differences to better the lives of women and families. 

We mobilize and educate women as voters, policy advocates, and community leaders to build a unified movement that will impact elections and advance critical and lasting/enduring change.

Principles

• We stand on the shoulders of New York women who came before us, building on a legacy of equal rights and equal opportunity.
• We believe that all women have the right to determine their own health and well-being.
• We speak our truth, listen to one another, and learn from our diverse opinions.
• We are committed to increasing women's participation in all aspects of our democracy.

There are over 25 organizations participating in the coalition including:

• Common Cause New York
• Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies
• National Council of Jewish Women-New York
• National Organization for Women-New York City

For more information on NYWV, contact Bich Ha Pham at bhpham@fpwa.org or 212-801-1311 or Liz Accles at laccles@fpwa.org or 212-801-1393.