Dear SUNY New Paltz students,
Nov. 5 is election day this year. Although this is not a presidential election year, nor a mid-term election where Congressional seats are on the ballot, it is still important for all of us to vote. There are several local races that are on the ballot this election. These include County Executive, District Attorney, County Comptroller and County Legislator. All of these offices make decisions that impact your lives as students at SUNY New Paltz.
New York made several changes in the last year to make it easier to vote. New Yorkers are now able to participate in early voting, which 39 other states and the District of Columbia already allow. Early voting in New Paltz will be at the Redeemer Lutheran Church until Nov. 3, with different hours each day. There was an effort to have the Student Union Building be a polling site for early voting, but this was stopped by the Ulster County Republican election commissioners. They deliberately wanted to keep SUNY New Paltz students from voting in higher numbers because they knew the impact that we could have. I’m hoping this information motivates students to vote this election and help make a difference for Ulster County. If you care about women’s rights, racial equality, climate change and criminal justice reform, let that be known to Ulster County when you vote this election cycle. The Democratic candidates for this cycle: Ulster County District Attorney candidate Dave Clegg (a SUNY New Platz alumnus), Ulster County Comptroller candidate March Gallagher, Ulster County Executive candidate Pat Ryan, Ulster County Court Judge candidate Bryan Rounds and Ulster County Legislator candidate Eve Walter, are all fighting on the right side of all these issues.
Sincerely,
Matthew Hemsley, President of SUNY New Paltz College Democrats