Election Law – The New York State 2013 Ballot

Welcome back to our series on Gould Law Library resources! In this month’s posts, we will be highlighting some of our resources on election law, in recognition of Election Day, November 5th, which is just around the corner.

It’s always important in this field to know what issues and elected positions are at issue in any given election year.

This year, there are several proposed amendments to the New York State Constitution. You can learn about them here: http://www.elections.ny.gov/ProposedConsAmendments.html. These proposed amendments would, if enacted by the people of New York, allow for:

• Legalized gambling in New York State and the establishment of up to seven casinos
• Veterans with combat-related disabilities to be granted extra points in their application for civil service job promotions
• Municipalities to continue exceeding their debt limits for sewage facilities
• The resolution of a land dispute and a land exchange in the Adirondack forest preserve
• The mandatory retirement age of all state judges to be raised to 80 years old

No matter your stance on these amendments, it is important to exercise your right to vote if you hold that right. For reference, you can check if you are registered to vote in New York State here: https://voterlookup.elections.state.ny.us/voterSearch.aspx.

For information about registering to vote in New York State, visit: http://www.elections.ny.gov/VotingRegister.html. A mailed application must be postmarked no later than October 11th (just three days away) in order to register to vote in this year’s general election.

Check back soon for our next blog post to highlight resources on this topic.

In the meantime, keep calm and read on.