Voting Rights in NY State need Reform

David Posnett — Thu, 16 Mar 2017 04:22:14 +0000

By Max Plesset MD.

NEED FOR NEW YORK STATE ELECTORAL REFORM

Decreasing voter participation — only 19.7% turnout in 2016 presidential primary — second lowest in the country
NYS has one of the lowest overall turnouts nationwide for all elections —46th in voter turnout
NYS has one of the highest percentages of unregistered voters — somewhere between 4 – 5 million out of 15.5 million eligible voters

BARRIERS TO INCREASING VOTER PARTICIPATION

One must register to vote at least 25 days before the next election
No in-person early voting in NYS — one of only 13 states without it
Limited places to register to vote
No opt-out automatic voter registration (AVR) —6 states already have it
Only online registration is on DMV site — excludes many New York City voters who don’t have cars
Absence of a “no excuse” option on absentee balloting form
Paper registration forms contain many entry errors and are recorded improperly
Long lines at polling places
Voter fatigue due to multiple separate elections (primaries, state and local)
Interesting facts: many who want to register as Independents mistakenly register for the Independence Party. As many as 80% in one poll. NYS is the only state in US that requires a change in party registration at least 1 year prior to a general election.
Required documentation for a driver license: SSN, birth certificate, Department of Homeland Security naturalization document, previous NYS Driver License with less than 2 years lapse

“VOTER EMPOWERMENT ACT” IS ALREADY IN COMMITTEES

Early voting
Automatic voter registration with opt-out
Same-day voter registration
Expansion of state agencies for registration — social service agencies, SUNY,CUNY,Public Housing Authorities,Departments of Corrections, Division of Military Affairs and others.
Lower voter age to 16 — many already have a driver license and pay taxes
Allowing felons to vote after prison release instead of after parole
Open primaries — 3 million out of 10.7 million active voters have no Democratic or Republican Party registration — they can’t vote in primaries
Ballot improvement — many ballots are discarded due to entry errors
Consolidating elections to reduce voter fatigue

GOVERNOR CUOMO HAS PROPOSED TO MODERNIZE VOTING IN HIS 2017 STATE OF THE STATE MESSAGE

CONCLUSIONS

Early voting and AVR can be accomplished through Legislative action. Legislative electoral reform has repeatedly failed, due to a highly politicized legislature. NYS Senate Republicans regularly stymie bills involving AVR and early voting
Changing the voter registration process to same-day registration may require an amendment to the Constitution.
A No Excuse Absentee Ballot does require amendments to the NYS Constitution which is a long and difficult process
Turning Republican Senate seats to Democratic Senate seats would improve the likelihood of electoral reform. Incidentally, out of 32 current Democratic Senate seats 9 are in the Independent Democratic Conference that usually votes with the 31 Republicans.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

Last held in 1967
Every 20 years it must be on the ballot for a vote stating — “Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution and amend the same” — it will be on the ballot this Nov. 7, 2017
If approved, there is a ballot vote for delegates in Nov. 2018
A vote to accept or reject amendments would occur in Nov. 2019
Multiple topics can be included for amendment consideration — legislative apportionment, issues of governance and judiciary, election law and ethics, reproductive choice (not currently in the NYS Constitution), etc.
Only 2 electoral reform issues are noted in Article ll of the NYS Constitution. The 2 are Absentee Voting Only with an Excuse and the Deadline for Registration which is being debated.

BOTTOM LINE

ConCon (Constitutional Convention) process is lengthy, cumbersome and costly — approximately 300 million dollars
The legislative process, which is also difficult, may give us more hope for electoral reform

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://on.ny.gov/2jrgOC2

NY state legislature – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild