Elections in New York (state)

In New York, general elections for governor are held every four years, in even-numbered years when there is no presidential election. General elections for the State Legislature are held in November of every even-numbered year.
New York is a state where voters typically vote for Democratic Party candidates. As of 2025, there are more than twice as many enrolled Democratic voters as there are enrolled Republican voters in New York. Democratic candidates prevailed in New York in every presidential election from 1988 to 2024. As of 2025, no Republican candidate had won a statewide election in New York since George Pataki was re-elected governor in 2002. The New York State Senate has been led by the Democratic Party since 2019, while the New York State Assembly has been led by the Democrats since 1975.
New York is nearly unique among the states in that it allows electoral fusion. In a 2020 study, New York was ranked as the 17th easiest state for citizens to vote in.

Electoral system

Electoral procedure

s are elections at which enrolled members of a party nominate party candidates for the general election and elect party officers. New York uses closed primaries and only an enrolled member of a party can vote in its primaries. The election district is the basic electoral administrative division, containing a maximum of 950 registered voters with boundaries determined by the local board of elections.
The person for party nomination for public office who receives a plurality of the vote is nominated as the party candidate. The state central committee of a political party designates people for statewide public offices in the primary election by majority vote, but people who receive at least 25% of the committee votes may contest the primary, and people who receive less than 25% of the committee votes may contest the primary by collecting 25000 petition signatures with at least 100 signatories from each congressional district.
The political party county executive committees in cities and towns and the party caucus in villages typically select candidates for local offices, with the local committees ratifying the selections. In New York City, candidates for the citywide offices are designated jointly by the five county executive committees of each party, and a local political club may also play a major role in nomination and selection. Judicial nominating conventions, composed of judicial delegates elected from assembly districts within the judicial district, nominate New York Supreme Court justices. The designation of a person to contest a party nomination for public office, and the nomination of a person for a party office, at a primary election is by designating petition.
New York is near unique among the states in that it allows electoral fusion, allowing two or more parties to nominate the same person for office. Absentee ballots are allowed for voters who are away from their residence on election day, ill, or physically disabled. The minimum age for suffrage is eighteen years old. Individuals who have been convicted of a felony are disenfranchised while incarcerated or on parole; individuals on probation retain the right to vote. Local boards of elections are required to hold voter registration between the sixth and fourth Saturday before a general election. Voter registration at local boards of elections is closed for thirty days before a general election; voter registration at polling places begins thirty days after a general election, and for ten days before and five days after other elections. Voter registration by mail is allowed. Voters may choose to enroll in a political party during voter registration.

Party system

Parties that received at least 130,000 votes or 2% of the vote in the previous gubernatorial election or presidential election qualify for "official" status and automatic statewide ballot access. This also determines the order on the ballot. There are a number of minor parties in New York State which do not qualify for ballot status.
The Election Law defines the structure of political parties and requires each party to have county committees and a state committee. The county committees are composed of at least two members elected from each election district, as well as two members elected from each assembly district within the county. In the five counties of New York City, the executive committees of the county committees are composed of the district leaders and other officers; outside New York City, the executive committees are composed of the chairmen of the local political committees and other officers. In principle, county committee members select the county committee chair, but in New York City the practice is that the district leaders control the choice. Judicial nominating conventions, which nominate New York Supreme Court justices, are composed of judicial delegates elected from assembly districts within the judicial district.
The state committees are in practice composed of members determined by county committee chairmen augmented by representatives of other constituency groups according to party bylaws. In principle, a chairperson and executive committee are chosen by the state committee, although in practice a sitting governor of the party will effectively name the chairperson. The state committee chairperson and executive committee select one man and one woman for the national committee, select at-large delegates and chairpersons for the national convention, select candidates for statewide offices, and conduct party activities.

Reform

A 2005 study by the Grassroots Initiative found that in New York City more than 50% of committee membership was vacant and that 98% of committee member elections were uncontested. In suburban and rural areas, informed observers estimate that at least one-third of committee membership is vacant. New York's judicial conventions have also been criticized as opaque, brief, and dominated by county party leaders.

Colonial electoral history

The voting population of the Province of New York rose from 2,000 in 1698, to 23,000 in 1790. The secret ballot did not exist at the time and all elections were conducted in the county town under the supervision of the sheriff. Elections in Albany County were controlled by the Schuyler, Livingston, and Van Rensselaer families.
Elections for the 1st New York Provincial Congress were slated to be held on April 28, 1775, but continued into June, which was almost three weeks after the Congress started its session. The next session's elections were meant to be held on November 7, 1776, but by the opening day of November 14, only 9 of 14 counties had selected their deputies. A quorum did not exist until the deputies decided to organize the session on December 1, and a quorum was established on December 6.

State electoral history

Elected offices

Year	Democratic	Republican
1950	42.3% 2,246,855	53.1% 2,819,523
1954	49.6% 2,560,738	49.4% 2,549,613
1958	44.7% 2,553,895	54.7% 3,126,929
1962	44.0% 2,552,418	53.1% 3,081,587
1966	38.1% 2,298,363	44.6% 2,690,626
1970	40.3% 2,421,426	52.4% 3,151,432
1974	57.2% 3,028,503	41.9% 2,219,667
1978	51.0% 2,429,272	45.2% 2,156,404
1982	50.9% 2,675,213	47.5% 2,494,827
1986	64.6% 2,775,045	31.8% 1,363,968
1990	53.2% 2,157,087	21.4% 865,948
1994	45.5% 2,364,906	48.8% 2,538,702
1998	33.2% 1,570,317	54.3% 2,571,991
2002	33.5% 1,534,064	49.4% 2,262,255
2006	69.6% 3,086,709	28.7% 1,274,335
2010	62.5% 2,910,876	33.2% 1,547,857
2014	54.2% 2,069,480	40.2% 1,537,077
2018	59.6% 3,635,340	36.2% 2,207,602
2022	53.1% 3,140,415	46.7% 2,762,581

The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, state comptroller and the two U.S. senators are now the only statewide elected officials. The first state election was held in June 1777, and the Governor and Lieutenant Governor were the only statewide elected officials. Besides them, the Assemblymen were elected in the counties, and the state senators in the senatorial districts.
Until 1821 a state election was held annually, lasting three days, beginning on the last Monday in April. The Assembly was completely and the Senate partly renewed. Every three years, a governor and a lieutenant governor were elected, all other state officials were appointed by the Council of Appointments. From 1822 to 1841, the state elections have been held lasting three days, beginning on the first Monday in November. The governor and the lieutenant governor continued to be the only statewide elected officials. Since November 1842, the election has been held on a single day, the date fixed on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In 1844, four Canal Commissioners were also elected statewide. In 1846, the governor, lieutenant governor, and two Canal Commissioners were elected. All other statewide officials were elected by joint ballot of the state legislature.
The Constitution of 1846 made most of the state offices elective by popular ballot. From 1847 on, the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state comptroller, State Treasurer, state engineer, three Canal Commissioners, three prison inspectors, four judges and the clerk of the New York Court of Appeals were elected statewide with different terms in office.
From 1870 on, a chief judge and six associate judges of the Court of Appeals were elected, and since then the Clerk of the Court of Appeals has been appointed by the court. In 1876, the offices of Canal Commissioner and Inspector of State Prisons were abolished, and their successors were appointed by the governor. From 1914 on, the U.S. senators from New York were elected statewide too. The offices of the treasurer and the state engineer were abolished in 1926. The office of secretary of state became appointive by the governor in 1927. Since 1938, the legislative term is two years for both state senators and assemblymen, so that state elections are held now only in even-numbered years. Until 1973, judges of the Court of Appeals were occasionally elected in odd-numbered years, and the judges of the New York Court of Appeals became appointed in 1978.