NEW YORK, NY (10/16/2018) (readMedia)-- This weekend, 400K New Yorkers -- who are at risk of being inactive on the rolls -- received a letter from the Mayor's Office.
In response, Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY, issued the following statement:
"Over compensating in the age of incompetence and wide-spread voter suppression is common sense and the Mayor's Office is right to err on the of side of more information than less. Common Cause/NY also contacted thousands of voters via text and encouraged them to check their voter registration, regardless of the last time they voted. We're glad to see the city being proactive."
Background:
On Primary Day last month, 27% of registered voters turned out to vote – almost double the numbers from the 2014 primary.
Of the 1.5 million people who voted, too many experienced problems at the polls. Over 125 New Yorkers shared their election day story with Common Cause/NY on or after the primary. 70% of voters reported to Common Cause/NY having trouble on election day:
This year, Let NY Vote, formerly known as Easy Elections NY, formed as a statewide coalition of organizations & grassroots groups fighting to modernize New York's elections. The goal is to pass simple solutions in 2019 to improve our elections and remove barriers to registering and voting for all eligible New Yorkers.
The Let NY Vote coalition is made up of over thirty organizations, nonprofits, and labor unions, including Common Cause/NY, Public Citizen, New York State United Teachers, SEIU 32BJ, RWDSU, CWA District 1, as well as the statewide NAACP and the National Action Network, grassroots organizations, faith groups, civil liberties, reproductive and immigrant rights, criminal justice and re-entry groups, New American, and the LGBTQ community. A full list is available at letnyvote.org.