Golden Day is the one day that a New York voter can register to vote and vote on the same day – or sort of vote – by affidavit ballot.
October 26 is Golden Day and is the last day to register to vote before the general election on Nov 5th and also the first day of early voting. Because of this “coincidence” of the calendar orchestrated by the Democrats by changing the law, Golden Day allows a voter to register to vote and early vote on the same day.
“Golden Day is nothing more than a clever moniker for same-day voter registration, and it violates the state constitution’s prohibition on same-day voter registration,” says Joe Burns, election law expert and partner at Holtzman Vogel.
Golden Day is clearly unconstitutional and also does not reflect the will of the voters of New York. The New York Constitution clearly states in Article II Section 5 that “registration shall be completed at least ten days before each election”. Furthermore, when the voters of New York had the chance to approve same-day voter registrations, it was voted down.
Governor Kathy Hochul and the Democrat-led legislature went forward anyway, and Golden Day is the unconstitutional outcome of their actions.
Burns said, “The state constitution doesn’t permit same-day voter registration. In 2021, the voters of New York had the opportunity to amend the constitution to allow for same-day voter registration. New Yorkers, in that 2021 referendum, voted down that amendment.”
It all comes down to the semantics of what voting is. Are you voting when you cast your ballot or are you voting at some later time when your ballot is counted? New York’s Democrats, if challenged in court, will likely claim that they have not violated the state’s constitution based on what they claim ‘voting’ actually means. Most common sense voters would say they are voting when they cast their ballot.
Those in favor of loosening up the voting calendar say that since the ballots will not be counted on the day of registration they are not violating the law. They claim that because the person registering to vote on Golden Day is casting an affidavit ballot, not putting their ballot into the machine, they are not really voting on the same day they are registering. This is a very fine line and parses common sense in ways that stretch the recognition of the act of voting beyond any reasonableness. It harkens back to the Bill Clinton Days of, “It all depends on what the meaning of the word is is.”
College campuses and the New York State Board of Elections are having Golden Day events across the state to encourage non-registered students to register and vote on the same day. Democrats are targeting young voters, voters of color, and specifically male voters where Kamala Harris has a deficit.
Golden Day may be challenged in court at some point and Democrats will then have to show how it meets the test of constitutionality in New York. Time will tell. In the meantime, New York Democrats are forging ahead.