Voting Reform Comes to New York

The State Senate and Assembly approved legislation Monday that would allow New Yorkers to cast their ballots in elections up to 10 days before Election Day, giving the public a first taste of a juggernaut of government reforms that the Democratic-majority in both chambers is planning to push through this year.

Senate Democrats, led by Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, held a victorious press conference before the vote. It was jam packed with advocates chanting “Let New York vote.” The advocates worked for years to have New York join 37 other states and allow early voting.

“It’s time for New York to catch up so that we can actually lead,” Stewart-Cousins said, to cheers.

The bills would open up a small number of polling places 10 full days before Election Day — one polling place to be open early for every 50,000 voters — so that voters can cast their ballots at an earlier, more convenient time. If signed by the governor, as expected, the expanded voting will be in effect for the November 2019 elections.

Another bill would allow “no excuses” absentee voting, so that anyone is eligible to cast a mail in ballot. But that change requires an amendment to the state’s constitution, and the process can’t be completed until the 2021 election cycle. Other measures would consolidate New York’s separate state and federal primary election days into one voting day in late June.

New Yorkers who move within the state would no longer have to re-register to vote. And 16- and 17-year-old residents could sign up early, so that all of the paper work to vote is finished before they turn 18 and can cast a ballot.

Lawmakers also moved to close a loophole in the state’s campaign finance laws that allows individuals and companies to form limited liability companies, or LLC’s, to skirt donation limits.

Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins says all of the measures were long stalled by Republicans in the State Senate, who ruled the chamber for most of the past century until they were defeated in the 2018 elections.

“We are trying to clear a backlog of things,” she said.

The longtime director of the government reform group New York State Common Cause, Susan Lerner, was among those cheering. She says she’s waited over a decade for what she calls a “fabulous beginning” to election reform in New York — though she promised that more is coming.

“We now have a legislature that is interested in listening to the voice of the voters,” Lerner said. “And that’s what we are seeing today.”