Cuomo announces early voting, automatic and same-day voter registration in NY

[Tintrlvr]

Does same-day voting registration mean you can also change your party on the day of the election?

Unclear. In the current system, you could newly register as a voter and be eligible to vote in your party's primary as soon as a few weeks before the primary but would not be eligible if you had changed your party registration (from Republican or Independent to Democratic, e.g.) within the past six months. Personally, I thought that approach made sense; party-switchers should have to "cool down" before having a say in party primaries. If you want to be a Democrat, it's not hard to register as a party member.

As an aside, I think the New York system is actually in place to protect the minor parties that survive based on fusion (the Conservative Party, the Working Families Party, etc.) from hostile takeovers.

[Tintrlvr]

Does same-day voting registration mean you can also change your party on the day of the election?

Unclear. In the current system, you could newly register as a voter and be eligible to vote in your party's primary as soon as a few weeks before the primary but would not be eligible if you had changed your party registration (from Republican or Independent to Democratic, e.g.) within the past six months. Personally, I thought that approach made sense; party-switchers should have to "cool down" before having a say in party primaries. If you want to be a Democrat, it's not hard to register as a party member.

As an aside, I think the New York system is actually in place to protect the minor parties that survive based on fusion (the Conservative Party, the Working Families Party, etc.) from hostile takeovers.

The problem is, those registered cannot vote in any primary, and could not affiliate for the primaries if they did not do so prior to the 6 month deadline you cited. This holds 2.5 million out. There are another nearly 500 thousand who are registered with the 'Independence Party' (not the same as unaffiliated; this was an issue in CA as well, where there is the AIP, or 'American Independence Party', which is separate from NPI, i.e. nonpartisan/unaffiliated voters), who falsely believed they registered as independents (the enrollment is multiple times larger in the 'Independence Party' than it is in the Conservative, Green, and Working Families Parties).

I am opposed to Democrats switching over to vote in the Republican primaries, and vice versa, and understand the argument that third parties should be kept alive, but the current system has too many roadblocks, especially if voters are motivated to vote for a grassroots/populist candidate, who may not have had his/her rise prior to the six month deadline. It's up to the state and/or the parties, but I think independents should have the ability to vote in either major party primary, or the deadlines for them in particular to affiliate should be more reasonable.

This seems like something people should work out on their own. Don't register as an independent (or "Independence Party") if you want to be able to influence parties from the inside.

Also, it may be illegal to treat people registered with a party differently from people not registered with a party for purposes of party-switching limitations under New York's law regarding discrimination based on political affiliations. (So you can't ban people who switched R -> D for six months without also banning people who switched I -> D.)