You probably don’t need a reminder that today is election day, but here are some helpful tips for New York voters.

• Polls are open 6 AM–9 PM. If you’re in line by 9 PM, you’re allowed to vote.

• If you’ve voted in New York before, you don’t need to provide ID to vote in person.

• If you’re voting for the first time in New York, submitted your registration by mail, and didn’t provide a copy of your New York driver’s license, state ID card, or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or government document that shows your name and address when you registered, you may need to show one of these documents when you vote in person on Election Day.

• To find your polling location, just google “where do I vote”.

To see what will be on your ballot, Ballotpedia, a nonprofit encyclopedia written by a staff of researchers and writers, contains a wealth of information and maintains a sample ballot lookup.

Fore more information, check out www.elections.ny.gov

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Early voting begins this year in Columbia and Greene Counties. Columbia County will have three early voting sites, and Greene County will have one.

Columbia County’s polling sites will be at the Columbia County Board of Elections Office in Hudson; the MH Glynn Municipal Building in Valatie; and Copake Town Hall in Copake. Voters may select any of the three sites to vote at. If you choose to vote early, you will not be eligible to vote on Election Day (Nov 5).

“Voting will be exactly as it always has been on Election Day — on a paper ballot that the voter will vote and then scan into a voting machine,” said Virginia Martin, Democratic commissioner of the Columbia County Board of Elections. “Sign-in will be a little different. To accommodate the flexibility that voters have, we will be signing voters in on new electronic poll books, which are special tablets that have been programmed with the voter rolls.”

Columbia County Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Jason Nastke said, “I think this gives voters a greater chance to participate in the democratic process by opening up the amount of hours available to them to cast their vote,” Nastke said. “Last year, 18% of the vote in Columbia County was cast by absentee ballot. I think early voting should cut down on that significantly.”

Early voting will be open to anyone who is registered to vote. Just show up at the location, and then you will follow the same procedures as usual. Absentee voting will still be available.

DATES/TIMES:
For the November election, voting will begin October 26 and will run through November 3. On Monday, Nov. 4, there will be no early voting, and the general election is Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the usual polling sites.

LOCATIONS:
Columbia County Board of Elections Office
401 State St., Hudson, NY 12534

MH Glynn Municipal Building
3211 Church St., Valatie NY 12184

Copake Town Hall
230 Mountain View Rd., Copake NY 12516

In Greene County, there will be one early polling site, at the county building, 411 Main St., Suite 430, Catskill.

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The four villages in the Columbia County will hold elections for village trustees and mayors on Tuesday, March 19. There are candidates for all the open positions but the only competitive races are in Chatham and Philmont.

In Chatham three people are running for two open trustee seats with 2-year terms, and two people are running for a 1-year trustee seat. In Philmont, a former town supervisor is challenging the incumbent mayor; the village also has three people running for two trustee seats.

In the Villages of Kinderhook and Valatie incumbents are running unopposed. The ballots have space for write-in candidates.

Village elections are non-partisan. Candidates do not run on national party lines but instead are listed on ballot lines with local names.

The polls are open from noon until 9 p.m. in all four villages. You must be a resident of the Village in order to vote in Village elections.

Chatham
John Howe is the only candidate on the ballot for mayor.
For the Village Board, current trustee Peter Minahan, who was appointed to his seat to fill a vacancy, is running for one of the two 2-year seats; Jaimee Boehme and Jodie Russell each are also seeking 2-year terms. Melony Spock and Joseph Cerami will both be on the ballot for the available 1-year term as trustee.

Elections will be held at the Tracy Memorial Building, 77 Main Street, Chatham, from noon to 9 p.m.

Kinderhook
Current Village Board members David Flaherty and Dale R. Leiser are running for the two trustee seats. Both seats are 2-year terms.
The polls will be open between the hours of noon and 9 p.m. in the Village Hall, 6 Chatham Street, Kinderhook.

Philmont
Current Mayor Clarence “Skip” Speed is running against former Town Supervisor Robin Andrews for a 2-year term as mayor.
There are three candidates on the ballot for two trustee seats: incumbents Douglas Cropper and Larry Ostrander, and Heath Iverson. Both of the seats are for 2-year terms.
The polls will be open noon to 9 p.m. in the Village Hall, 124 Main Street, Philmont.

Valatie
Current Mayor Diane Argyle and incumbent trustees Frank Bevens and Larry Eleby are all running for reelection for 2-year terms in the positions they now hold.
Polls will be open noon to 9 p.m. in the Martin H. Glynn Municipal Building, Church Street, Valatie.

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