An elderly Brooklyn immigrant eager to vote in the presidential election was disappointed last week when Vladimir Epshteyn, president of the Russian-American Voters Educational League, told him that he had become a citizen a little too late: Oct. 8 was the deadline for voter registration in New York State.

But it turns out that the Brooklyn man and other brand-new citizens have a little more time to register in the state, something that even advocates for immigrants and federal immigration officials did not know. Under an obscure section of New York State law, those sworn in as citizens after the registration deadline are allowed to register in person at the Board of Elections headquarters in their county until 10 days before the election, according to Jerome A. Koenig, a retired chief of staff of the Assembly’s Election Law Committee.

Koenig pointed out the section of the election law after reading an article in The New York Times on Oct. 15 that included Epshteyn’s anecdote about the new citizen.

Officials at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services said the provision could affect about 2,000 new citizens in the New York metropolitan area, all sworn in or scheduled to be sworn in as citizens between Oct. 11 and Oct. 22. It was welcome news to Dan Smulian, director of training and legal services at the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella group for more than 150 community organizations serving newcomers from foreign countries.

(By Permission, The New York Times)