Denied the right to vote — Marcellus, Nov 3, 2026
November 5, 2026 · Sean Claesgens
On Election Day, November 3, 2026, I walked into the polling place at Marcellus High School with my New York ID, ready to vote.
My name was not on the poll book.
I was not offered an affidavit or provisional ballot. Instead, I was told to go about twenty minutes away and get a court order. That was the remedy.
I cannot drive. Because of strokes, seizures, and vision damage, I do not have a driver’s license. I am on SSDI as totally and permanently disabled. I do not have money for an Uber. A twenty-minute drive for a court order was not an accessible option for me. So on Election Day, in my own town, I was left without a way to cast a ballot that I could actually reach.
I moved from Florida to New York in June 2026. On October 1, I rented my apartment at 38 E Main Street, Apt 1M, Marcellus, NY 13108. Around October 16, I went to the New York DMV and got a non-driver ID. I believe I completed and signed a voter registration as part of that same transaction. New York’s voter-registration deadline for the November 3 election was October 24. I showed up on time, with ID, at my local polling place. And still, I could not vote.
A witness was with me that day. I am not putting words in anyone else’s mouth. I am simply saying what happened to me.
I filed complaints. I emailed the Onondaga County Board of Elections. I filed with the New York Attorney General — reference 5883. I filed with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division and received a filing confirmation. As of the afternoon of November 5, I have sent a FOIL records request to Onondaga County BOE at elections@ongov.net. The New York Attorney General’s office told me they are investigating. A DMV FOIL request is still pending because it needs a GovQA login.
On that same call with the Attorney General’s office today, I told them plainly: they violated my civil rights, I am going to sue, and I will not let this go. I said it calmly then, and I mean it calmly now. This is not about anger for its own sake. It is about the right to vote — and about accessible remedies when something goes wrong.
I still do not know whether the DMV transmitted my voter registration to the Board of Elections. That is an open question. I am asking for a clear explanation from Onondaga County, from the Attorney General’s office, from the Department of Justice, and from the system that was supposed to get me on the roll or give me a ballot I could cast. I want to know what happened. And I want accessible remedies so this does not happen to someone else who cannot drive twenty minutes for a court order on Election Day.
I showed up. I brought my ID. I followed what I understood the process to be. Voting is not a favor. It is a right. Integrity means naming what happened, asking for the truth, and insisting that the remedy be one people can actually use — including people with disabilities.
I will keep pursuing answers. I will keep asking for a fix. And I will keep showing up for the right to vote.
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