New York State is touting online voter registration through the Department of Motor Vehicles this year, noting that more people then ever used the online system last month. However, with the deadline to register just days away, local Board of Election officials suggest potential voters be wary of it, and to make sure they get registered pick up or download a registration form and mail it in.
Onondaga County Republican Elections Commissioner Helen Kiggens has been skittish about the DMV system since last spring’s presidential primary.
"My concern, and we saw in the primary, they weren’t even sending us the downloads each day," Kiggens said. "And we actually found out right before the primary that they’d skipped an entire day and we were able to call them and get them to send it to us, and all those people thought they were registered, and we don’t know if other days were skipped."
In the end, Kiggens said 129 Onondaga County residents couldn’t vote in the primary because of the mix-up. That wasn’t the only problem, according to Onondaga County’s Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny.
"During the presidential primary, close to the end of the voter registration deadline, there were so many people using it, it crashed," Czarny said. "And I think they’ve fixed those problems, but if you’re thinking of registering to vote don’t wait 'til the last minute. If you’re getting close to the deadline, it might be a better to print up a form from the website and put it in the mail."
Czarny said if potential voters want to vote in a primary next year, the time to register in a political party is now.
"So if you’re thinking of enrolling in a political party, or changing a political party for that purpose, October 14 is the deadline for 2017 and beyond,” he said.
For more information, go to your county’s board of elections website.
