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Main Image for Election@Bard

Election@Bard

Photo by Sarah Wallock '19
Election Menu
  • Polling Places
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  • Voting Rights
  • Election Home
Voting is a Fundamental Right
Voting is one of the most fundamental rights in a democratic society. We encourage all students to exercise their right to vote. Election@Bard is a student-led initiative that helps students register to vote, provides information about candidates, hosts forums in which candidates and students can meet, and protects the rights of students to vote and have their votes counted. Since 2014, Election@Bard has fought for Bardians' right to vote under the leadership of undergraduate students selected by the Center for Civic Engagement and the Andrew Goodman Foundation.

Need to update your voter registration form, or help with the absentee ballot process?
Email us.

Election News

Bard College Awarded $399,000 Grant from Mellon Foundation for Project on Voting Rights

Bard College is proud to announce that it has received a $399,000 award from the Mellon Foundation to support a three-year applied learning research curricular project on voting rights. The project, done in collaboration with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Tuskegee University, Prairie View A&M University, and The Andrew Goodman Foundation, will use the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and outlawed age-based voter discrimination, as a prism through which to understand the history of voting and disenfranchisement in the United States and the role of college communities in the fight for voting rights. 

On Election Day, Bard Students Vote at Bertelsmann Campus Center after the College’s Legal Victory for Polling Place on Campus

Bard Executive Vice President and Director of Center for Civic Engagement Jonathan Becker and Bard senior Huba Zaman ’23 speak with WAMC Northeast Public Radio about the legal fight to secure a fully functional polling site on campus. “I’m just super excited that Bard has made it that much easier for students to go out and have their voices heard,” said Zaman.

More News
  • Bard College Secures Fully Functioning On-Campus Polling Site for 2022 General Election
  • “New York Must Build a Better Election System,” Writes Jonathan Becker in an Op-Ed for the Times Union
  • Bard Files Complaint with New York State Board of Elections to Stop Understaffing and Underequipping at Polling Site
  • New Legislation Will Bring Polling Places to New York College Campuses
  • Vice President for Civic Engagement Erin Cannan and Sadia Saba ’21 Discuss Bard’s Polling Location Win on Live the Legacy
  • Bard's Jonathan Becker on WAMC: "New York State can help overcome voter suppression of college students"
  • A Decades-Long Battle: How Bard College Won An On-Campus Polling Site
  • New York Appeals Court Unanimously Affirms Bard Campus Polling Site
  • Judge Again Rules in Favor of Voting at Bard

Who/What Are On The 2023 Ballot?

JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT 9TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
Francesca E. Connolly (D,C)
Charley Wood (D,C)
Rolf M. Thorsen (D,C)
Larry J. Schwartz (D,C)
John A. Sarcone, III (R)
Karen A. Ostberg (R)
Susan M. Sullivan-Bisceglia (R)
John Ciampoli (R)

COUNTY CLERK
Kenya Gadsden (D,W)
Bradford Kendall* (R,C)

DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Anthony Parisi (D,W)
Matthew A. Weishaupt (R,C)

COUNTY EXECUTIVE
Tommy Zurhellen (D,W)
Susan J. Serino (R,C)

FAMILY COURT JUDGE
James Rogers (D,W)
Joseph A. Egitto* (R,C)

MEMBER DUTCHESS COUNTY LEGISLATURE DISTRICT 20 
Kristofer P. Munn (D,W)

TOWN OF RED HOOK – Town Supervisor
Robert McKeon* (D)
Norman Greig (R)

TOWN OF RED HOOK – Town Board Member
Jacob Testa* (D)
Bill Hamel* (D) 
Anthony Formisano (R)
Gary Kowalski (R) 

TOWN OF RED HOOK – Town Justice 
Lisa Loughran (D,R)
Tom Mansfield*(D,W)

TOWN OF RED HOOK – Superintendent of Highways 
Theresa Burke* (R,C)

*denotes incumbent 
C - Conservative Party 
D - Democratic Party
G - Green Party
I - Independence Party
R - Republican Party
SAM - Serve America Movement
W - Working Families


This section shows the candidates on the ballot for students registered locally. If you’re registered elsewhere, use this tool from Ballotpedia to find your sample ballot.

Are you registered to vote out of state? Do you need an absentee ballot? Click here to apply for one. 

Proposals

Proposal Number One, An Amendment
The proposed amendment to Article 8, section 4 of the Constitution removes the special constitutional debt limitation now placed on small city school districts, so they will be treated the same as all other school districts. Shall the proposed amendment be approved?

Proposal Number Two, An Amendment
The proposed amendment to Article 8, section 5 of the Constitution extends for ten years the authority of counties, cities, towns, and villages to remove from their constitutional debt limits debt for the construction of sewage facilities. Shall the proposed amendment be approved?

For more information about the proposals, click here
To see the entire sample ballot, click here
The Red Hook Daily Catch Election 2023 page (Daily Catch content is free to subscribers)
Republican party candidates all in one place
Democratic party candidates all in one place


 

Bard College Secures Fully Functioning On-Campus Polling Site
Bard students and staff make voting signs at a campus community event. Photo by Jonathan Asiedu ’24

Bard College Secures Fully Functioning On-Campus Polling Site

After a fight that had been going on for nearly a quarter century, the Dutchess County Board of Elections finally relented and Bard College had a fully functional campus polling site for the 2022 general election, and hopefully beyond. Election Commissioner Hannah Black informed Bard officials that the polling site at Bard’s Bertelsmann Campus Center would be fully staffed and have the requisite number of polling machines; previously, the site had been in violation of election regulations and a court ordered settlement. The decision occurred after Bard had filed a complaint following years of litigation to secure an on-campus polling location and ensure equal access to the ballot.

Bard College Secures Fully Functioning On-Campus Polling Site

After a fight that had been going on for nearly a quarter century, the Dutchess County Board of Elections (BOE) finally relented and Bard College had a fully functional polling site on campus for the 2022 general election, and hopefully beyond. Election Commissioner Hannah Black informed Bard officials in October that the poll site at Bard’s Bertelsmann Campus Center would be fully staffed and have the requisite number of polling machines; previously, at the insistence of Republican Commissioner Erik Haight, the site had been the only one in the County to have three instead of four poll workers and one of two to have one polling machine, in violation of election regulations, policies, and practices, and court ordered settlement. The decision occurred after Bard had filed a complaint with the Enforcement Counsel of the New York State Board of Elections following years of litigation to secure an on-campus polling location and ensure equal access to the ballot.

The decision appeared to be the final chapter in a fight that has been taking place since 1999, when Bard and Vassar students pressed the Dutchess County Board of Elections to cease systematically denying the students the right to register locally, as is their right under New York State election law. The focus shifted to discriminatory regulations concerning student addresses and finally to a poll site on the Bard campus. The victory comes just after the 50th anniversary of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and outlaws age discrimination in ballot access.

Over the last two decades, students from Bard won four lawsuits, including a federal lawsuit and accompanying consent decree (with students from Marist and the Culinary Institute of America) forcing the cessation of registration rejections due to allegedly invalid student addresses (2012-13); a New York State Supreme Court suit over the counting of votes after students were harassed at polls (2009); and two New York State Supreme and Appellate Court decisions establishing and maintaining a polling site at Bard campus (2020 and 2021). In the latter two cases, students were joined by litigants including Bard President Leon Botstein and Vice President for Civic Engagement Erin Cannan, and supported by The Andrew Goodman Foundation, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to making youth voices and votes a powerful force in democracy. In all, the County has spent more than $120,000 in legal fees over the past decade in losing a series of lawsuits.

The Bard cases have had significant reverberations. In part in response to Bard’s experience, coupled by the efforts of a statewide voting rights coalition, the state passed a law mandating polling sites on college campuses across the state with 300 or more registered voters. That law was tested at Vassar College, which was granted a new polling site in November.

For the 2022 election, the Board of Elections decided to close the second traditional poll site in District 5 at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Barrytown, in spite of a court-approved agreement between Bard and the BOE that allowed for polling sites at both St. John’s and Bard. The St. John’s location had been the site of dispute because of its distance from public transportation and its inaccessibility. The site had been one focus of the complaint to the Enforcement Counsel of the Board of Elections, which included evidence that the BOE had conducted an obviously false American with Disabilities Act survey, including listing “N/A” in response to multiple survey questions on the accessibility of ramps and walkways, coupled with subsequent documentation of Commissioner Haight’s decision to block efforts to conduct a new survey in spite of representations to a Supreme Court judge that the Board would conduct a new survey immediately following the 2020 lawsuit.

Counsel on the most recent actions are Michael Donofrio, Esq. of Stris & Maher LLP, Doug Mishkin, Esq., and Yael Bromberg, Esq. of Bromberg Law LLC.

Jonathan Becker, Bard’s Executive Vice President and Director of Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement stated: “This is a victory for voting rights and for youth voters everywhere and for the 26th Amendment. The Board of Elections’ systemic discrimination against students has been a lesson about the need to fight injustice wherever it appears. We are also pleased the Board’s actions, particularly those of Commissioner Erik Haight, have been so egregious that they have impelled the state to implement legislative fixes to curb abuses of power throughout the state.”

Erin Cannan, Bard’s Dean for Civic Engagement and a plaintiff in the 2020 and 2021 lawsuits said: “This victory can serve as a model for other communities and universities where long-standing efforts to limit voter access can be tackled through partnership, education, and trust. Democracy is about more access not less, and it is in the grassroots work where critical concerns that seem out of our reach can actually be changed by working together in our own neighborhoods.”

Oliver Abrams ’25, a Bard anthropology student who works for the student-led initiative Election@Bard, said: “Bard College’s 23 years of effort have paid off as the Bertelsmann Campus Center is now set to hold an active, fully functioning polling site. This crucial moment is less than a month before the midterm elections, when Bard students will be able to vote on campus without barriers to accessibility. Previously, polling took place in an inaccessible building off campus; now, students can benefit from a direct pathway to civic engagement.”

Yael Bromberg, Esq. of Bromberg Law LLC, a 26th Amendment legal scholar and Special Counsel & Strategic Advisor to the President/CEO of The Andrew Goodman Foundation, who was co-counsel on the recent lawsuits, stated: “The fight for an on-campus polling location at Bard College illustrates the impact that small but mighty victories can have on the state and federal level, and the power of the theory of change endorsed by The Andrew Goodman Foundation which leverages organizing, advocacy, public education, and litigation when necessary. It also exemplifies the power of youth and intersectional voices, particularly when they are supported with cross-generational and cross-organizational leadership.”

What is significant:
  • Bard’s was an important victory in the fight for student voting and the 26th Amendment which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and outlawed age discrimination in ballot access, and which just celebrated its 50th Anniversary since ratification.
  • Bard’s was one of two case studies analyzed in depth at a strategic summit co-hosted by The Harvard Kennedy School and The Andrew Goodman Foundation in spring 2022.
  • The fight at Bard demonstrated both the untrammeled authority of Election Commissioners, even in blue states, and the determination required to win even small victories.
  • Bard serves as a model of civically engaged academic institutions, which attempt to realize the democratic vision of higher education.
The multi-pronged strategy that leverages organizing, advocacy, public education, and litigation when necessary, exemplifies a theory of change endorsed by the Andrew Goodman Foundation, which led the years long fight for the polling site at Bard College, and whose network of over 80 campuses across 26 states and Washington, D.C. has secured this under-appreciated electoral mechanism on campuses across the country.

The actions at Bard College helped inspire change to New York Election Law, which now mandates that qualifying colleges and universities situate on-campus polling locations across the State of New York, and inspired related provisions within the Youth Voting Rights Act.
 

Election@Bard Student Leadership

Lead Campus Initiatives Intern

Lead Campus Initiatives Intern

Sierra Ford '26

Sierra is majoring in Political Studies and Sociology in the hopes that she can use her education to continue to continue the work around educating today's youth on the most relevant and pressing political issues. Through her work with Election@Bard, she is fulfilling both a personal mission and a societal necessity as she works with the Election@Bard Intern team to find ways to increase youth representation in the American electorate. Sierra looks forward to bridging the gap between young collegiate voters and the American electoral process.

Co-Lead Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Co-Lead Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Henry Mielarczyk ’24

Henry is studying Philosophy and Bassoon Performance at Bard. As an elected member of the Morris County Democratic Committee, Henry founded and chairs the Morris County Progressive Caucus. He is also the Vice-Chair of the Pequannock Democratic Committee, and he ran for the Pequannock Town Council in 2022. Now, Henry is leading Election@Bard’s efforts to collaborate with other civically-minded students through the Hudson Valley Student Voter Coalition.

Co-Lead Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Co-Lead Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Samuel Mutter '24

Samuel Mutter is majoring in Music Composition and History at Bard. Their interests in politics and civics were piqued when they were introduced to the concept of Citizen’s Assemblies on which they did research with the Hannah Arendt Center during the 2021-2022 academic year. Now they’re engaged with Election@Bard because of their passion for increasing political participation in democratic processes.

Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Fiona Flynn '25

Fiona Flynn is a junior at Bard College, majoring in Written Arts and French. Voter literacy and civic engagement have always been very important to Fiona, and she hopes to encourage more students to become engaged with local politics as well as national. Working with Election@Bard, she hopes to educate herself on local policy along with her student peers, creating a more involved and active community of voters.

Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Emily "Lee" Ta '26

Emily “Lee” Ta is a second-year student pursuing a double degree in Music composition and History at Bard. They are of the philosophy that the study of history is not exclusively concerned with the past, but in fact perpetually relevant to the modern day, especially in the realm of politics. Their work at Election@Bard is driven by the belief that young people’s voices are the voice of not only the future, but also the present, and that voting is the most essential way to make them heard.

Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Intern, Coalition Initiatives

Vera Topcik '25

Vera Topcik is a third-year student majoring in Physics. Her interest in political activism was motivated by her first experience in political outreach, which was a phone banking event that encouraged people to vote and helped voters find their polling locations. From this experience, Vera learned that she is passionate about making personal connections with potential voters. She is excited to support Election@Bard’s mission of encouraging students to exercise their right to vote.

Questions?

Questions?

We're here to help

Email us at [email protected]. DM us on Instagram @electionatbard

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Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504-5000
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