FAQs for Election 2022
How do I know if I am registered to vote locally?
Where and when can I vote?
On-campus students:
Live on campus? Preview your ballot here.
You can also use this Ballotpedia tool to generate a personalized ballot, wherever you're registered!
If I asked for an absentee ballot, can I still vote in person?
When is the deadline to register to vote?
What if I have moved since I registered to vote?
What if I am “not in the polling book?”
What if something goes wrong at the polls?
What if I am “challenged?”
What type of identification do I need to vote?
Can I wear campaign gear to show my support for a candidate/political party at the polls?
Do I get an “I voted” sticker?
YES.
Rules & Regulations: Bard's On-Campus Polling Place
Bard's On-Campus Polling Place is a recent win for The College and its students. Previously, on-campus students shuttled to St. John's Episcopal Church in Barrytown, the assigned polling location for District 5. This polling location was non-ADA-compliant and inaccessible via public transportation, just to name a few issues. Now, our students have the option to vote at the Campus Center!
2) Some parking from North Ravine Road will be reserved for voters. Unless otherwise labeled, non-voters can park as usual in the surrounding parking lots.
3) Due to electioneering rules, non-voters are expected to remain at least 100 feet away from the Multi-Purpose Room. This will be marked off by ropes, both inside and outside the building.
4) Electioneering rules are in effect. No one who is within 100 feet of the polling place, including voters, can advocate for a candidate or wear buttons, hats, shirts, masks or other clothing that display the name of a party or political candidate or one of their slogans.
5) Other safety issues: Senior administrators and staff will be present at the polling site all day. We expect any non-Bard voters who come to campus to come, park, vote and leave peacefully and we equally expect the Bard community to treat voters with respect and to allow them to come, vote, and leave in peace. The other parts of campus remain closed except for voters and poll workers and those who have received specific exemptions.
Who are Election Inspectors and who are Poll Watchers and what can they do? Can a Poll Watcher harass me or ask me questions?
Red Hook Town Board Votes for On-Campus Polling Place
On August 26, 2020 the Red Hook Town Board voted unanimously to move the polling site in District 5 to the Bard College campus in Annandale-on-Hudson. The recommendation is forwarded to Election Commissioners in Dutchess County, who will make a final determiniation.
Watch the presentation offered by the Election@Bard team: Adrian Costa (also Speaker for the Student Body), Sadia Saba, and Sarah deVeer (’17), CCE Outreach Coordinator, starting at mintue 35:00.
Spring 2020 Update
The fight to relocate Bard's polling place to campus has been revitalized as of Spring 2020. Election@Bard and the Andrew Goodman Foundation, now represented by Venable LLP, a New York City-based law firm, recently submitted a letter to the Dutchess County Board of Elections demanding the relocation of Bard's polling place to campus. The group is open to exploring possible litigation should the request not be complied with.
The Andrew Goodman Foundation
The Andrew Goodman Foundation was created in 1966 by Robert and Carolyn Goodman to carry on the spirit and the purpose of their son Andrew’s life. Today, our work harnesses the legacy of courageous civic action to grow new leaders of change: young adults bitten by the spirit of activism (like Andy). Our campus coalitions spread a culture of participatory democracy, promoting the right to vote while incubating a new civic-minded generation.
Advocacy Polling
This concern follows a history of voting accessibility issues for college-age voters in Dutchess County. In 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Symm vs. The United States that denying college students the presumption of bona fide residency was unconstitutional. Decades after that decision, college students in Dutchess County faced undue and unjustified barriers to voting. The egregious disenfranchisement tactics occurred consistently until 2004. During that time, young registered voters in Dutchess County were systematically barred from voting through the use of a “supplemental” questionnaire. The Board of Elections required this supplemental form exclusively from voters residing at college residences. The practice ended in 2004, after students and administrators from Bard, Vassar, and Marist, civil rights organizations, and a bipartisan group of local elected officials united to put an end to this unjust practice. Since then, conditions have improved, but litigation was required in 2009 and 2012 to ensure the equal treatment and enfranchisement of college-age voters.
In addition to the unnecessary distance, the polling site is located on an unlit and high-speed county road that has no pedestrian sidewalks. The present polling site is irrefutably inaccessible by foot. A polling site on Bard’s campus would be immediately accessible by foot to 68 percent of all voters in this voting district.
Furthermore, the current polling site is inaccessible by mass transit. However, a polling site at Bard College would be accessible by LOOP bus. It is important to note that, in 2010, NYS Election Law was amended to give preference to sites accessible by mass transit; “each polling place designated, whenever practicable, shall be situated directly on a public transportation route” (NY Elec L § 4-104 [6] [a]).
Voter Map Factsheet (PDF)