Voting/Representation

Voter Registration

Voter registration is administered by the New York State Board of Elections. Here's a link to register to vote. Submit the Voter Registration Form if you're registering for the first time, or to update your address.

Your Representatives

Did you know that you have representatives at each level of government? Each level of government has its own responsibilities (although sometimes they overlap). Here are some examples of each level of government deals with:

• Federal: immigration laws, the military, federal interest rates for banks, communications (ex: phones, the internet, and broadcast media like television and radio)
• State: licenses of all kinds, most travel/transportation laws, most criminal and civil laws (except for things that concern national security, many social services (ex: food stamps and Medicaid are paid for with federal money but administered by the states)
• Local (City): emergency services (ex: police, fire department, and EMS - most rules are laws are set by the state but administered locally), building safety codes, public utilities (ex: water and electricity)

Your address determines your district, which means the representatives/candidates you can vote for. It might seem strange, but there are different boundaries for the city, state, and federal goverment areas, so citizens in a neighborhood might have the same city council representatives, but different state or federal respresentatives.

Here's a helpful website to find who respresents your address (by the League of Women Voters of the City of New York). Just type in your address (or an address) to see who the representative at each level of government. For some basic information on how the government is organized, usa.gov has a short summary of the levels and branches of goverment.