Do you need an ID to vote in New York?

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — After the Attorney General's Office relayed a complaint they'd received on Sunday, the Ulster County Sheriff's Department took down someone's political sign claiming that voters need identification to vote. The Ulster County Board of Elections stressed to locals that voting at the polls does not require IDs, calling out apparent misinformation.

At your local voting site, poll workers compare the signatures of New Yorkers to verify their identities. Although you wouldn't typically need to present an identification card on Election Day, you must have already presented one when you initially registered to vote.

State law requires a valid form of ID—like a driver’s license or Social Security number—to register. "Failure to provide either would require the voter to present ID when they go to their poll site for the first time," said a spokesperson from the New York State Board of Elections (BOE). "This requirement comes from the Help America Vote Act and has been in place for over 20 years."

Even so, New York technically has no explicit "voter ID" law. Voting rights and accessibility advocates who back free and robust elections argue that mandating IDs at the polls would block eligible citizens from participating in democracy. And Senate and Assembly Republicans in New York repeatedly proposed such a law in the last legislative session, including:

• S876/A4414 would require showing government-issued photo IDs at the polls. It would also make getting a non-driver ID free for those who qualify for Medicaid. Voters without their ID could cast a provisional ballot that gets counted if they submit their ID within three days of the election.
• S7876/A6297 was similar to the bill above, leaving out the Medicaid eligibility for an ID at no charge. It would accept federal IDs like passports instead of ones issued by New York-issues.
• S6139 would require ID to cast a ballot, incorporating a mechanism to apply for a free government-issued photo ID. It also bans charging fees to notarize necessary documents.
• A6111 would have accepted state and federal identification and let New Yorkers request a free ID, if necessary. It included a vote-by-mail provision requiring a copy of the ID, and a longer window of seven days instead of three to verify an ID with the BOE.

The BOE said that early voting by mail represents the biggest change statewide when comparing this presidential election cycle to the last one. Even if they don't qualify for absentee voting, all New Yorkers can request a mail ballot early.

That option didn't exist in 2020. Early voting in person started in 2019 in New York, but COVID likely limited how much people took advantage in the General Election. That means that, this year, voters have four options: absentee ballot by mail, early voting in person or by mail, or in-person on Election Day.

All told, New York passed almost 20 other new laws aimed to improve ballot access and increase election transparency since 2020. They include:

• S2076/A2574 updates where and when automatic voter registration takes place
• S6429/A6047A covers requests for absentee ballots
• S830B/A4448A restores voting rights to people released from prison or parole
• S1046E/A6678E, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act, protects voting rights for minorities
• S253A/A1144A counts absentee ballots with "stray marks" when the vote is obvious
• S284C/A642C counts affidavit ballots from the wrong district but the right county
• S2951A/A8858A changes registration deadlines and windows
• S7550/A7690 sets presidential primaries dates and updates voting procedures
• S1327/A972 changes deadlines and windows for voter registration
• S5984A/A6132 lets voters submit ballots before election deadlines
• S7394A/A7632 allows early voting by mail and online applications for ballots
• S1733A/A5180 promotes student voter registration
• S5965A/A4009A gives a legal notice of voting rights to those freed from local jail
• S6735A/A3250A lets registered voters apply for an absentee or early mail ballot
• S6130A/A530 lets New York-licensed attorneys be poll watchers
• S5943/A725 makes sure bigger races appear at the top of the ballot
• S9837/A10541 covers provisions for curing ballots

They range from a Voting Rights Act to address racist voter suppression and a measure to let voters fix minor disqualifying mistakes on absentee ballots. Others let the state accept provisional ballots during early voting and make registration easier by expanding which agencies can register voters. New York also restored voting rights for people with past convictions and required jails to inform individuals of their voting rights. But the legislature has also passed a law shortening the window to request mail ballots since 2020:

• S264/A5783 changed the deadline to mail a request for an absentee ballot from seven to 15 days before an election

Voter registration ends October 26, which is also the first day of early voting. It's the only day that you can register at a poll site and vote on the same day. You can request an early mail or absentee ballot until the 26.