How Many Registered Voters In New York City 2020

Campaigns & Elections

New York's voter registration and turnout go on to lag

The state continues its middling functioning in voter turnout. Experts blame barriers to voting.

New Yorkers line up at a polling site in South Ozone Park in Queens.

New Yorkers line up at a polling site in South Ozone Park in Queens. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Part

New York's estimated voter turnout for 2020 is 65.3% of eligible voters, ranking New York 30th out of fifty states for voter turnout, and falling below the national average of 66.v%. In 2016, New York ranked 39th in voter turnout, when it was 57.ii%. And then New York improved in absolute and relative terms, merely turnout was upward across the nation also.

New York's voter turnout is currently only an estimate because it is affected by the unusually big number of absentee ballots cast this yr, which have not nonetheless been counted.

New York's mediocre performance on voter turnout this year is typical of the Empire State, which, despite its progressive politics, ranks beneath average in key categories for political engagement.

In Oct, WalletHub'southward 2020's Most & Least Politically Engaged States analyzed 11 metrics related to borough educational activity, voting and political contributions beyond all 50 states. The study ranked states co-ordinate to each metric and gave each an overall rating, ranging from virtually politically engaged to to the lowest degree politically engaged. Data was sourced from the U.Southward. Census Bureau, the Center for Responsive Politics and Ballotpedia, among others. New York was ranked 23rd out of 50 states for political engagement.

Just that middling ranking was brought upward by its stronger performance in sure kinds of engagement, such as donating to campaigns beyond the state. New York was in a four-way tie for beginning place, with Virginia, Massachusetts and Wyoming, for highest total political contributions per capita.

Notably, New York ranked 47th for registered voters per capita during the 2016 presidential election, sandwiched between New Mexico and Texas. New York had 12,493,250 registered voters in the state in Nov. 2016, which increased to 13,555,547.

Prior to Election Solar day, more than ane.2 million completed absentee ballots had been sent in past Monday, but that number will increment as New York accepts absentee ballots received upward to a week afterward the ballot if they are postmarked past Ballot Day.

Even so, New York also suffers from an unusually loftier rate of absentee ballots rejected for voter errors such as neglecting to sign the envelope ABC 7 found that in both the 2018 and 2016 elections, more ballots were rejected in New York City than in any other Democratic-controlled locality. In this yr's master election, 21% of absentee ballots cast in New York City were rejected. If an private'southward ballot is rejected, they must exist notified by New York and given the opportunity to mend information technology.

Jill Gonzalez, an analyst with WalletHub, a site that offers personalized financial information, said that low voter turnout has long been a feature for New York politics. "The main thing New York is lacking is voter turnout," Gonzalez wrote in an email to Urban center & State. "It registered some of the lowest percentages, both in the 2018 midterm elections, as well as in the 2016 presidential elections. Senior residents in particular are some of the least politically engaged in their age category in the country."

One of the main reasons for the lack of voter participation is the lack of voter accessibility, co-ordinate to Lina Newton, professor of political scientific discipline at CUNY Hunter Higher. "New York's voter registration constabulary is interesting considering New Yorkers have oftentimes decried some of the registration laws that have been passed recently in states like Indiana and Georgia that require proof of citizenship and require all kinds of identification, just New York has taken a long time to alter some of its laws," Newton said. Newton went on to describe the lack of same-twenty-four hour period voter registration as an example, along with the lack of "no excuse" absentee voting where a voter does not need an alibi, such as an illness, to request an absentee ballot.

New York has recently amended many of its voting restrictions, which could boost turnout in the future, according to Shana Kushner Gadarian, department chair and an associate professor of political science at Syracuse University. "One of the things that that kind of new Associates and Democratic Senate did in New York state was to laissez passer things like early voting and to laissez passer changes in registration dates to arrive easier for people to vote." In 2019, the newly elected and largely Democratic state Legislature implemented early voting and pre-registration for shortly-to-be voters younger than 18. Information technology also passed vote-past-mail service and aforementioned-day voter registration. Yet, as those measures would require irresolute the state constitution, they have to be passed again in 2021 and so approved by voters in a ballot plebiscite.

The Legislature also created an early voting system, and this election was the get-go major election in which it was implemented. Over ii.5 meg votes were cast prior to Election Day. Early voting, however, came with a caveat: long lines. Although early voting increases accessibility, long lines could deter voters, especially during the COVID-nineteen pandemic.

Low voter turnout may also be attributable to New York being a safely Autonomous state. Craig Burnett, an associate professor of political science at Hofstra University, pointed out. "The land is not very competitive in many races," Burnett wrote in an email. "Beingness competitive helps drive registration and turnout, especially at the presidential level." New York has voted blue for presidential elections since 1988.

Newtown noted that this may be changing, as some congressional or land Legislature districts go more competitive due to demographic or ideological shifts in parts of upstate and the New York City suburbs. "The districts are commonly sufficiently gerrymandered to i party or some other, usually Democrat in almost cases, but there are some Republican seats every bit well and that tends to squelch voter turnout," Newton said. "So, if you assume that a party is going to win because it's always won in the past, you don't tend to turn out." Withal, local elections throughout New York have grown more competitive and may encourage higher voter turnout in the years to come.