The most surprising change to the election process this year takes effect this Saturday, October 26: early voting for New Yorkers. That’s right - the heavily anticipated Tuesday, November 5, Election Day just got a little lighter as New York passed a law letting registered voters cast their ballot early. Starting this year, registered New York voters have nine additional days - including two weekends - to cast their ballots.

Voters can still vote by absentee ballot or at their regular polling place (find those here) on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5, but can now also vote instead at one of their home county’s designated early voting sites from Saturday, October 26 to Sunday, November 3.

Assemblymember Jonathan Jacobson (D-Newburgh) co-sponsored the bill implementing early voting in New York State, and is a member of the Assembly’s Election Law Committee and Chair of the Sub-Committee on Election Day Operations. “Voting should be simple and easy,” Jacobson said in a press release. “Early voting will increase turnout and allow more voters to participate in our democratic process.”

How Does Voting Early Work?

Special locations are assigned for each county. Early voting locations vary by county, and you must cast your vote in the county where you live. You must be a registered voter, but you don’t need to sign up for anything special to be able to vote early. Anyone can do it. You just walk up to the designated area and vote.

We asked Julie Shiroishi, chief of staff for Assemblymember Jacobson, to provide a few more “how-to” details of this new voting process: “You just show up at any early voting site in Dutchess and they'll look up your name in an electronic poll book. These are new and will allow the poll worker to print on-demand a ballot (also new) for your specific election district. At the end of every day, the info will be uploaded to the County Board of Elections so voters can't vote more than once.”

So on Tuesday, November 5, you could just sit back and enjoy the day… Saturdays and Sundays are even included in the early voting schedule. And even Halloween! What does it mean for employers who give their employees paid leave to vote on Tuesday? According to Julie: “Employees can take three hours off to vote on Election Day only - not Early Voting days. Technically, employees are supposed to give their employers two days notice prior to Election Day that they are going to vote, and employers are supposed to post the policy notifying them of their right to vote on Election Day 10 days before Election Day.”

Early Voting Locations For Dutchess County

Residents of the City of Beacon can vote at any of Dutchess County’s five early polling sites:

• Fishkill Town Hall, 807 Route 52, Fishkill

• Dutchess County Board of Elections, 47 Cannon St., Poughkeepsie

• Rhinebeck Town Hall, 80 East Market St., Rhinebeck

• Millbrook Fire House, 20 Front St., Millbrook

• Unionvale Town Hall, 249 Duncan Road, Lagrangeville

If you have kids and plan on bringing them to vote, you could check out the Fishkill Rec Center’s activity schedule to drop in for an activity session. A Little Beacon Blog does include the Fishkill Recreation Center activities in our Kids Classes Guide.