Huffington Post: New York’s Horrific Voting Laws Might Actually Get Changed

Sam Levine

December 11, 2018

New York State Democrats say they plan to quickly push reforms to the state’s antiquated voting laws when they take complete control of the state legislature in January, encouraging advocates in a state where reform has long been stymied.

Despite its reputation as a solidly Democratic state in presidential years, New York’s voting laws are among some of the most restrictive in the country. Voter turnout is consistently low. It is one of just 12 states where there isn’t an early voting period before Election Day to cast a ballot. If voters want to cast an absentee ballot, they have to give officials an excuse for why they can’t make it to the polls. When there’s a federal and state election in the same year, New Yorkers have to go to the polls on different days for primary contests, driving down turnout and costing the state millions of dollars. The state cuts off voter registration 25 days before an election. And if voters want to vote in a primary, they have to declare their affiliation with a party very far in advance ― in some cases, nearly a year.

Democrats in the state assembly passed a package of voting reforms earlier this year, but the legislation died under in the GOP-controlled state senate. But after Democrats won control of the upper chamber in November, State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D), the incoming deputy majority leader, said he expected Democrats to swiftly push measures that would establish early voting, automatically register voters, consolidate primary dates and give voters more time to register.

“It is certainly at the top of the agenda for the new Democratic majority in the senate,” Gianaris said in an interview. “We are lagging the country, in an embarrassing way, on voting laws in large part because for years there was a majority in the senate that viewed increased voting participation as against their political interests. Unfortunately, it’s the ultimate in cynicism to do things that damage our democracy to help a particular party’s electoral prospects. But that’s what we were dealing with.”