Today is Election Day. Polls are open today in New York from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
All regular polling places are open in the Town of Riverhead. Voters may only cast ballots at the polling place for their election districts. There are 10 polling places for the 22 election districts in the Town of Riverhead. Find your polling place here.
Here’s our rundown of the candidates running for Congress, State Senate and Assembly, as well as ballot propositions and sample ballots for voters in Riverhead Town. Click here to see the sample ballot.
Pursuant to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order No. 202.17, you are required to wear a mask/face covering and maintain six feet of distance when entering any Board of Elections facility or polling place.
The Suffolk County Board of Elections said all booths, privacy sleeves and pens will be continuously sanitized.
The CDC recommends you wash your hands before and after voting. If you can’t immediately wash your hands, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
If you still want to cast an absentee ballot, you can drop it off — or have someone drop it off for you — at any poll site during voting hours or at the Suffolk County Board of Elections, 700 Yaphank Avenue, Yaphank NY 11980.
If you have already cast an absentee ballot, you can still vote in-person if you choose. Before an absentee ballot is counted, election clerks at the board of elections verify that the absentee voter has not cast a ballot on a machine. If the voter has voted on a machine, the absentee ballot is not counted.
Under New York State law, electioneering is prohibited within any polling place and in any public street within a 100-foot radius of the entrance to any polling place. No political banner, button, poster or placard shall be allowed or within 100 feet of any polling place.
Under both N.Y. state and federal law, it is illegal for anyone to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters with the purpose of interfering with their right to vote.
In N.Y., it is also illegal to require someone to show photo I.D. in order to vote. However, if you registered by mail and are voting for the first time, you are required by federal law to provide ID either on the voter registration form or at the poll. ID is a valid NYS driver license or the last four digits of your social security number.
If your name is not on the voter roll, request a provisional ballot.
According to the N.Y. State attorney general, the following types of conduct as potentially constituting unlawful voter intimidation:
- Individuals or groups patrolling outside of polling places and trying to scare people out of the voting line;
- Poll watchers inside a polling place aggressively challenging large groups of voters, leading to long lines, and creating false fears that voters may be illegally voting;
- Poll watchers standing in the vicinity of privacy booths, standing in unauthorized areas, videotaping and/or photographing voters within the polling place, following or harassing voters in the polling place;
- Individuals spreading false rumors or making false statements that there are negative consequences to voting; or
- Individuals or groups displaying weapons or foreign military uniforms or other military paraphernalia outside of polling locations.
If you observe any prohibited conduct, you can report it to the N.Y. State Attorney General’s Election Protection Hotline at 1-800-771-7755 or by email to election.hotline@ag.ny.gov. Additional hotline numbers are 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for English and 888-VE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682) for Spanish. Any incidents involving potentially dangerous conduct should be reported to local law enforcement immediately, the attorney general’s office said.
The survival of local journalism depends on your support.
We are a small family-owned operation. You rely on us to stay informed, and we depend on you to make our work possible. Just a few dollars can help us continue to bring this important service to our community.
Support RiverheadLOCAL today.