ALBANY - Sex-offender parolees granted voting rights by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be able to cast a ballot, but only after 7 p.m. in the upcoming primary and general elections.

The stipulation was part of the executive order by Cuomo earlier this year that will let thousands of parolees vote this year.

But critics say the initiative is misguided and will allow dangerous felons into schools to vote.

Cuomo's office countered the policy is consistent with 16 other states that let formerly imprisoned residents vote.

"The truth is, the Governor’s action put New York on par with 16 other states — liberal and conservative — that restore voting rights to the formerly incarcerated and do so in the way that’s exactly prescribed by law," said Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi.

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State law allows registered sex offenders to enter schools or government offices with the permission of their parole officer or state monitor.

In this case, the state Department of Corrections added its own provisions to Cuomo's order in April.

It required all sex-offender parolees to advise their parole officers they intend to vote and plan to do so at a school.

The parolee then needs written permission from the parole officer and the school's superintendent.

And they can only enter the school grounds after 7 p.m. on voting day, and "not remain in or loiter around the school grounds once the voting process is completed."

Polls are open until 9 p.m.

Republicans blasted Cuomo's decision in April to grant partial pardons to some parolees so they can vote.

And this week they ripped the policy to let sex offenders into schools to vote. Cuomo is seeking re-election this year: first in a primary battle against Cynthia Nixon on Thursday, and then if he wins, in the general election.

"At the time, I called it the worst public policy misstep of his administration," Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, R-Suffolk County, said in a statement Friday.



"Now, Andrew Cuomo has made a bad policy even worse by concocting a scheme to allow sex offenders, under the cloak of darkness, to vote for him and other Democrats next Thursday."

Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro contended the state's policy is illegal, and he encouraged sheriffs to arrest sex offenders who come within 1,000 feet of schools -- which is the state ban.

“Andrew Cuomo is instructing sex predators to break the law; I am asking hardworking New York state sheriffs to enforce it,” Molinaro said in a statement.

"If Andrew Cuomo wanted to change the law to allow his pardoned sex offenders on school property on primary day he should have done so. But he didn’t, and the law is the law — at least in my book.”

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Azzopardi said Molinaro is wrong, pointing to the state law that allows sex offenders into public buildings under certain circumstances as well as the corrections department's policy.

“It’s pathetic that not only is Molinaro trying to fearmonger for political gain, he does it while also showing that he has no idea what he’s talking about," Azzopardi said.

In April, Cuomo signed the executive order to provide conditional pardons to as many as 35,000 felons who have completed their jail sentence but remain out on parole supervision.

Cuomo said parolees are out of jail and should have the right to vote.

Prior to Cuomo's order, those convicted of a felony and in prison could not vote until they finished their sentence and parole.

Already, Cuomo has granted the conditional pardons to roughly 25,000 parolees.

But the policy has come with challenges.

In July, the state Board of Elections stripped the right to vote for 127 parolees because they were either returned to prison for a parole violation or because of a new conviction.

Follow Joseph Spector on Twitter: @GannettAlbany