Tips for avoiding confusion at the polls

Dear Editor: After completing training in August, I signed up to be a ballot master at the Midtown Neighborhood Center in Kingston for the Sept. 13 primaries. What I witnessed during my nine hours at the polling site was disheartening.

The overall theme was confusion. Hundreds of voters of all ages, ethnicities, male and female, entered the building, and I could see many were immediately confused. Once I began approaching and questioning said voters, I heard various reasons as to why.

“I know there are elections today, but I never got my registration card in the mail.” “I don’t know my ward.” “The [district] map is too confusing.”

“They just told me my name isn’t in the book.”

I sympathized. The map was complicated. The voters felt if they knew their polling location, they should be set; and deflated when their name was not in the book.

What I do know now is that all of these issues can be avoided. I strongly advise voters to visit the Board of Elections online (voterlookup.elections.ny.gov) or stop in their local headquarters at 284 Wall St., Kingston. Here you will find your registration status, party affiliation, polling place, district, ward, name and address you are registered to vote under. This is all the information you will need to vote.

Print this page. Take a picture with your phone. Write the information down. Any method to have that information with you on election day is crucial to your voting experience being a successful one. I am a 26-year-old voter. Brandy Huppert

Shokan