Hopefully those of you living in New York City were able to participate in Primary Day; if you haven’t, it’s not too late. Registered voters have until 9:00 this evening. Of course, we all care about our city and want to take part in electing our public officials. Perhaps this morning you were overwhelmed by the number of candidates to research and decide between. According to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, as of September 10, 2009 there were a total of 374 candidates running for election!

Still, New Yorkers have been given materials to be informed: The New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) reported that more than 2.7 million households will receive the official New York City Voter Guide for the 2009 Primary elections in various languages. Perhaps you received one by mail recently. If you haven’t looked it over yet, it is very helpful.

For the increasing number of voters seeking voting information online, the CFB posts an interactive voter guide on its website. Voters can enter their address to view a guide tailored to their home district, or simply browse candidate profiles by name or office. Links allow visitors to e-mail campaigns and view PDFs of the guide in Spanish, Chinese, and Korean as well as other sites of interest.

The Milstein Division is presently collecting campaign ads and brochures from all parties, candidates, and offices, especially for the upcoming November 3rd Election. This will be added to our ephemera collection, useful for present day and future researchers. Most of what we have so far for the 2009 elections is, understandably, material from Democrats running in the primaries.

As the November 3rd Election moves near, anyone who wishes to contribute material, please send to:

Milstein Division of United States History, Local History & Genealogy
Stephen A. Schwarzman Bldg. – Rm 121
New York Public Library
Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street
New York, NY 10018

This post was contributed by Jim Falconi of the Milstein Division.