To Vote in This Summer’s Primary, Switch Your Party Now

What’s the deadline to switch parties?

The deadline to switch parties in New York City is February 14, 2025. In the past, there has been some confusion over that deadline between the state and city, but rest assured: If you live in the five boroughs, as you would have to in order to vote for mayor or any local office, your deadline is Feb. 14. Remember that Feb. 14 is the deadline for the city Board of Elections to receive your registration switch. That means that if you’re registering online, you must submit your registration by Feb. 13, one day earlier. If you’re dropping off physical papers at your local BOE office, Feb. 14 still works.

I don’t remember my current registered party. How can I check?

If you don’t remember your current registration, you can easily check online: just enter your name, birthday, ZIP Code and borough, and you’ll be able to see what your current voter registration says. Your registration information also includes your address, so if you’ve moved, you can submit a new registration form for where you live now. (By the way, the deadline to submit your address change before the primary is June 9.) Using the same link above, you can also see all of your voting districts for Assembly, State Senate, Congress, the City Council and more. Those dictate which candidates you can vote for in other races.

How do I register with a new party?

To switch parties, you submit a new voter registration form. You can do this online, by downloading the form and mailing a printed copy to Board of Elections, 32 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10004, or by dropping off your physical copy at a BOE office. The address of the city’s BOE offices are listed here. If you have a New York State drivers license, you can also register on the DMV website.

Which parties hold primaries?

New York has four political parties qualified to have ballot lines: the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Working Families Party and Conservative Party. But you often only see primaries for the two major parties because, typically, there aren’t enough candidates to hold contested primaries for the WFP or Conservatives.

But I don’t want to register with any party! I really can’t vote in the primary?

Sorry, but no, you can’t. And you are far from alone. In New York’s party system, if you choose not to register with any party, you check a box that says “No party” on your voter registration form. This does not mean that you are registering to a third party called “independent,” but that you are not registering to any party at all. And just as if you may have registered with the WFP or the Conservative Party, a “no party” or “independent” registration means that you cannot vote in the Democratic or Republican primaries in June.

Why should I vote in the primary?

For better or worse, if you don’t have a say in who the Democratic mayoral candidate is, you’re losing a lot of your say in who becomes the next mayor of New York City. If you don’t vote in the party primary, the choice has pretty much been made for you already. That’s not how it should be, according to advocacy groups whose goals are to increase voter turnout and get more people to the polls. “If you don’t vote in the party primary, the choice has pretty much been made for you already,” said Lerner. “Our biggest mission is to get more people to vote and to make it less complicated,” said Betsy Gotbaum, the executive director of Citizens Union. “And of course, an open primary would make it less complicated and more people will vote.”

Conclusion
If you want to have a say in who becomes the next mayor of New York City, you need to switch your party affiliation by February 14, 2025. Don’t miss your chance to participate in the primary election and shape the future of your city.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the deadline to switch parties?
  The deadline to switch parties in New York City is February 14, 2025.
• How do I register with a new party?
  You can register with a new party online, by downloading the form and mailing a printed copy to the Board of Elections, or by dropping off your physical copy at a BOE office.
• Which parties hold primaries?
  The Democratic Party, Republican Party, Working Families Party, and Conservative Party hold primaries.
• Why should I vote in the primary?
  If you don’t have a say in who the Democratic mayoral candidate is, you’re losing a lot of your say in who becomes the next mayor of New York City. By voting in the primary, you can shape the future of your city.