Brooklyn pols’ voting rights reform bill signed

By Matthew Fischetti

mfischetti@queensledger.com

Voters will have more time to register to vote next year, thanks to Governor Hochul signing new legislation sponsored by Brooklyn electeds. 

The new legislation, which takes effect on January 1, shortens the registration deadline from 25 days before an election to 10 days. While the state constitution stipulates that voters have 10 days to vote before elections, election law made the timeline longer by requiring voters to either be submitted 25 days before the election in person. If you wanted to mail in your registration, the previous law mandated that it be postmarked 25 days in advance and received by the board of elections within 20 days of the election. 

The new legislation was sponsored by Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D-Park Slope) and State Senator Brian Kavanagh (D-Greenpoint). (Kavanaugh will not represent Greenpoint in the upcoming term due to redistricting.)

“In recent years, we’ve taken many significant steps to change our laws and make elections more voter friendly. We know that many New Yorkers, with busy lives and many competing priorities, may choose to engage with the election process within the final weeks before an election. With the registration deadline set nearly a month before elections, new voters are routinely excluded from participating,” Kavanaugh (D-Greenpoint) said in a statement. 

The legislation builds on top of voting rights reform that has occurred in the past year. Earlier this month, Governor Hochul signed the “wrong church” legislation, also sponsored by Assemblymember Robert Carroll, which requires the counting of affidavit ballots if a voter showed up to the wrong polling location. 

Back in July, the Governor signed the John Lewis Voting Act of New York. The legislation made many changes to voting law including: requiring language assistance with areas that have enough population of minority language groups, establishing civil liability for voter intimidation and requiring preclearance of changes to voting by the Civil Rights Bureau under the attorney general’s office.

“New York State must ensure that New Yorkers don’t face unnecessary obstacles in exercising their right to vote and this legislation, which reduces the voter registration deadline from 25 to the constitutional minimum of 10 days before an election, is a good step,” Carroll said in a statement. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues and voting rights and election reform advocates in making New York State a true model when it comes to fair, transparent, and well administered elections.”

Guest Op-Ed: Polls are now open! Vote today in this critical election

By Mayor Eric Adams

 

Tuesday, Nov. 8 is Election Day in New York City – your last chance to join millions of New Yorkers in making your voices heard and casting your ballots in these critical elections.

The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

If you can’t vote on Tuesday, you can also vote early in-person. Early voting polls will be open through Sunday, Nov. 6.

Your poll site may have changed, so it’s important to check your poll site location and its hours before you vote at nycvotes.org.

This year, voting is more important than ever. The outcome of these elections will affect you and your family’s future, our economy, education, healthcare and more. And in every single race, your vote matters – from the Governor and Attorney General, to your Congresspeople and State Representatives.

We’re deciding who will lead our state into the future, and what kind of future we want for our state.

Also, four ballot proposals are on the back of your ballot, so remember to flip yours over.

I’ve made my plan to vote – and it’s critical that you do, too.

And not just yourself; bring your friends and family along, too. All U.S. citizens aged 18 and older who have registered are eligible to vote.

I hope that you will join me and millions of your fellow New Yorkers in going to the polls and getting the change you want to see done.

For more information on where and how to vote, as well as who and what issues are on the ballot, check out nycvotes.org.

If you are not currently registered to vote, you can register for next year’s election on that website as well.

All New Yorkers have the right to vote in their language.

You may bring an interpreter to the voting booth – it can be a friend, a family member or a poll worker, but it can’t be your employer or union representative.

The Civic Engagement Commission will be providing interpretation services in select languages and poll sites on Saturday, Nov. 5, Sunday, Nov. 6 and on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 8.

For more information on interpretive services, please visit participate.nyc.gov. And if you run into any problems when you try to vote, call 311.

Our democracy relies on individuals with different opinions coming together to find solutions.

Voting is one crucial way we do this, and having discussions with each other is another.

Recently, my Administration held a summit on criminal justice. We brought experienced defense lawyers, judges, district attorneys, advocates and law enforcement officials together in search of solutions to a goal we all share: keeping New Yorkers safe and ensuring justice for all.

There is a lot that this group disagrees on, and each individual group will keep pursuing their individual goals. But there is also much we agree on.

Both public safety and justice are prerequisites to prosperity, and we need to do a better job on both.

No one should be afraid of crime on the subway, and no one accused of committing a crime should have to wait for months to get a hearing.

Our discussion helped us find common ground on important improvements to our system, and over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be continuing our conversations and turning them into actionable solutions that will make New York a safer city. And I will never stop fighting for the steps we need to keep us safe.

Working toward a more perfect city and country is never easy.

It takes all of us engaging in good faith conversation, expressing our views, and casting our ballots.

See you at the polls on Tuesday.

Voters desrve a quick count

While there have been a few test runs of the city’s new ranked-choice voting system in special elections earlier this year, for the first time on a large scale voters will get to rank their top five candidates.
And to stave off the critics before the polls close on June 22 in the primary, the Board of Elections (BOE) is admitting that it will likely be a few weeks before we know who won in citywide races for posts like mayor and comptroller.
BOE needs to do better.
The state legislature could help by passing a bill that would allow BOE to release all the records once the election is certified, which they can’t legally do currently.
That State Senate and Assembly should get to work on legislation immediately so that voters – and the candidates – aren’t waiting weeks for the results.

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