New York has had a well-deserved reputation\nas a state with laws that discourage voter participation. In the area of redistricting, elected\nofficials have long conspired to deny voters competitive elections. In the area of campaign finance, loopholes in\nthe law make it possible for wealthy and powerful interests to shower\ncandidates with contributions of unlimited amounts. In the area of ethics, enforcement is\ncontrolled by the state\u2019s elected leadership. \nIn the area of voting, state policies have created obstacles to\nregistering to vote and casting a ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And the results have been clear. In 2018, at least one million otherwise eligible\nvoters were not registered, often due to laws that have made it hard to register. In the 2018 general election, a stunningly\nlow percentage of registered New Yorkers \u2013 45.2 percent \u2013voted. A review of the U.S. Elections Project\nanalysis showed New York to be among the ten worst turnout rates in the\nnation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thankfully, this is one area in which the\ngovernor and the Legislature have begun to act. \nThis year a package of legislation was passed that could ultimately make\nNew York one of the nation\u2019s model in how to encourage voter participation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the new laws that has gone into effect\nallows eligible voters to cast their ballots early instead of waiting until\nElection day. New York joins 38 states\n(including 3 that mail ballots to all voters) and the District of Columbia, that\nallow any qualified voter to cast a ballot in person during a designated period\nprior to Election Day. No excuse or\njustification is required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our modern age, allowing flexibility in\nvoting makes perfect sense. Since\nElection Day is a Tuesday in November, it can be difficult for many New Yorkers\nto juggle personal and employment demands and still get to the polls. Allowing voters to cast their ballots early\nis simply a recognition that the constitutional guarantee to vote should be\nmade as easy as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which is why the vast majority of states\nallow it and why New York acted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the first election in which early\nvoting will occur in New York. Under the\nnew law, early voting begins Saturday, October 26th<\/sup> and runs until\nSunday November 3rd<\/sup>. New\nYorkers can still vote on Election Day, November 5th<\/sup> as they always\nhave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Where you live will determine where you go to\nvote. The state law mandates counties to\nhave at least one early voting site for every 50,000 registered voters. The law requires that each site be open for a\ncertain number of hours, not necessarily all day for each of the locations.\nHowever, a minimum of 60 hours must be made available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Given the populations, for 40 of New York’s\n62 counties only one early voting site is required. There are slightly larger\ncounties, especially in upstate, that must have a minimum of two of three\nsites. The larger counties, such as\nAlbany, are subject to a higher floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Albany, there are eight locations spread\nthroughout the county, including the county board of elections location in the\ncity of Albany. In other counties,\nsimilar situations exist, depending on the population. There are a total of more than 200 early\nvoting sites sprinkled across the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Granting eligible New Yorkers the early\nvoting option makes sense. It offers a\nmore convenient option for busy people and may help improve the state\u2019s overall\nvoting performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are logistics that still need to be\nironed out, and having the 2019 elections be the first one covered by the\nmandate makes sense. Given that 2019 is\nlargely an election for local governmental offices, it should help elections\nofficials prepare for the big votes for President next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But early voting is only one step that is\nneeded. As part of the elections reform\npackage approved this legislative session, one initiative amended the state\nconstitution to allow new voters the opportunity to register and vote on\nElection Day. The states that allow that\noption have among the highest voter participation rates nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even more needs to be done to clean up and\noverhaul New York\u2019s woeful democracy. \nCampaign financing reforms may still occur, but changes are needed for\nredistricting which gets triggered by next year\u2019s Census as well as proposals\nto make the state\u2019s ethics laws enforcement independent of those it regulates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democracy is a work in progress, a constant\nmarch toward to government accountability and enhanced representation. Early voting constitutes a step \u2013 and\nsignificant one \u2013 in that march. If you\nwant to vote early, check out your local county board of elections for\nlocations most convenient to you. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New York has had a well-deserved reputation as a state with laws that discourage voter participation. In the area of redistricting, elected officials have long conspired to deny voters competitive elections. In the area of campaign finance, loopholes in the law make it possible for wealthy and powerful interests to shower candidates with contributions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2311"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2312,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2311\/revisions\/2312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nypirg.org\/capitolperspective\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}