Vote pre-registration will soon be available for 16 and 17-year-olds in New York. A law passed earlier this year allows pre-registration as of January 1. Teens who register early will automatically be eligible to vote once they turn 18. 

A teen who decides to pre-register, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, will fill out an application and then be added to a voter registration list with a “pending” status until they reach 18. The League of Women Voters of New York said it will soon launch a program to inform students about the law and help them pre-register. 

Rosie Labriola, a 17-year-old student at Pace University is in support of the pre-registration law and looks forward to becoming a registered voter. 

“I feel that pre-registration would be a great thing for New York to adopt because I am 17 years old and have a late birthday in the year,” said Labriola. “Because of this, I am not able to register to vote for some local elections because I won’t turn 18 in time and it upsets me because all of my peers are able to vote when I cannot.” 

Another 17-year-old, Madison Marini, also supports the new law. 

“I think pre-registration is a great idea because it gets us younger people involved in politics and it’ll encourage us to research and prepare for voting when we are old enough to do so,” Marini said. “I would pre-register to vote because it is one less thing I’ll have to do when I’m 18 and it would give us a sense of involvement.”