Time is running out in New York State to register to vote in the critically important upcoming election. Mail-in applications must be postmarked no later than Friday, Oct. 14 — and received by a board of elections no later than Oct. 19. Changes of address requests are also cut off after the 19th. Absentee ballot applications are due by Oct. 24 by mail, fax, or online; a grace period for in-person absentee ballot requests at local boards of elections ends Nov. 7 for those with last-minute changes of plan.
Maximizing voter turnout is especially important this cycle, with control of Congress in the balance amid widespread efforts from the radical right to cast doubt on the election process itself. A Republican majority in the House of Representatives could drive that chamber further into the fringe. Consider for a moment the chaos that would ensue if Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, a committed Jan. 6 coup plotter, became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, as has been suggested. Or what if Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, an extremist true believer in the most insane conspiracy theories, took a leadership role in a new Republican Congress?
Americans should not forget that these elected officials, along with more than 140 of their colleagues, sought to block certification of a justly concluded vote. Moreover, they helped fuel the attack on the Capitol by a crowd including some who were intent on killing the vice president of the United States. Whether or not these Republican House members actually knew in advance that violence was expected and that the fraud claims were fiction, they chose partisanship over their sworn constitutional duty.
Regardless of party, the American system needs protecting. The way to do that is to reject candidates who believe in gaining and holding power no matter the cost. Turnout will be key in close races like the one for New York’s First Congressional District — and across the country — to ensure free and fair elections and the orderly transfer of presidential power in 2024 and beyond.