It is important to both increase the number of voters — personal responsibility is essential but access can ease the way — and to safeguard the sanctity of the ballot box by making it impermeable to fraud.

A 2015  United States Supreme Court ruling said that local governments can’t decide how long they allow election signs to be posted because the signs’ messages are protected by the First Amendment. 

Voters must apply for a general-election absentee ballot no later than seven days — Tuesday, Oct. 27 — before the election. However, they may apply in-person up to the day before the election: Monday, Nov. 2.

Voters may apply for an absentee ballot:

A number of new voting reforms signed into law in August will make it easier for New Yorkers to cast ballots come November. 

Sweeping voter reforms and an extension for protecting tenants were part of the governor’s pandemic response on Thursday.

Michelle Hinchey, the Democratic candidate for the State Senate’s 46th District, paid for the lawyer of Hébert Joseph, chairman of the Rensselaerville Democratic Party, who submitted a challenge against Democrat Gary Greenberg’s nominating petition, which resulted in Greenberg’s removal from the primary ballot. Hinchey had distanced herself from Joseph’s challenge when asked about it by The Enterprise in March. 

Westerlo Town Clerk Kathleen Spinnato announced at the town board’s special June 11 meeting that she would be resigning on June 21. On June 18, the town board appointed Deputy Clerk Karla Weaver as acting town clerk.

Early voting results for incumbent Albany County District Attorney David Soares look promising, but there are still a number of ballots to be counted. 

Republican Paul DeLorenzo has earned nearly 70 percent of votes in Tuesday’s Conservative Party primary for Assembly District 111, according to the New York State Board of Elections’ unofficial results. His opponent, incumbent Democrat Angelo Santabarbara, garnered only about 23 percent of votes.