According to NY State Education Law Sec 2608- Nomination and Ballot:

Candidates for members of the board of education in a city school district shall... [file] in the office of the clerk of the board of education between the hours of nine a.m. and five p.m., on or before the twentieth day preceding the day of the annual election.”

In all other districts of New York, candidates for the school board are required to file their petitions 30 days preceding the annual election.

Why are the rules for submitting petitions different for city school districts, such as the Newburgh Enlarged City School District, compared to the rest of New York’s school districts? This discrepancy has a number of issues that do affect the voting public.

1. It limits the time for the public in city school district to know who the candidates are.

2. It reduces the time school board clerks have to create and approve the official ballots.

3. This in turn reduces the time voters in a city school district have to obtain an absentee ballot compared with the time afforded to voters in other New York school districts.

I am asking our legislators to approve legislation that would put all school districts on the same calendar/deadline for submitting candidate petitions and availability of absentee ballots.

Let’s work to make voter participation more accessible and easier to vote, no matter where one lives in New York.