Editorial Board Memo: New York Elections Can Not Become Wisconsin

NEW YORK, NY (04/13/2020) (readMedia)-- To: Editorial Boards

From: Common Cause/NY

Subject: New York Elections Can Not Become Wisconsin

Earlier last week, Wisconsinites risked their lives to vote after the state Supreme Court overturned the Governor's Executive Order to cancel in-person voting and expand absentee ballots. Poll sites in Milwaukee shrank from 180 to 5, forcing thousands of voters to violate social distancing just to exercise their basic rights. There was also a shortage of poll workers; primarily older, higher risk workers who understandably feared for their lives.

It was a total disaster for democracy -- and a warning sign for New York state.

Running efficient elections are challenging even under the best of circumstances, but paramount under the worst. New York lawmakers can and must ensure that all voters have equal access to the ballot.

Here's How:

Expand Absentee Voting

Currently, New York State has a very narrow set of reasons as to why voters can request an absentee ballot. The only way a voter can get a ballot is if s/he will be out of town on election day; unable to appear at the polls due to temporary or permanent illness or disability; is the primary caregiver of one or more individuals who are ill or physically disabled; a resident or patient of a Veterans Health Administration Hospital; or detained in jail awaiting Grand Jury action or confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony.

Lawmakers should codify the expansion of absentee voting qualifications to include voters who are concerned over the spread of an illness during a state of emergency like COVID-19 and allow voters to request an absentee ballot electronically. Although the Governor introduced an Executive Order to both of those effects, the Legislature must pass to bills to enshrine it into law and make it permanent. Both Senator Biaggi and Senator Myrie have introduced such bills. The Governor's EO only extends to June but we will need the absentee voting option for the November elections as well, which Biaggi and Myrie's bills cover.

Lawmakers not only must codify absentee voting, but also work out operational details, such as how voters will receive their ballots and send them back. This means developing a more robust ballot tracking process using barcodes on ballot envelopes to easily identify the voter, and track the ballot processing status in real time. BOEs must provide pre-paid postage for ballot return envelopes similar to California.

Once the BOEs receive the ballots, they must make every effort to ensure ballots are deemed valid. Since ballots will no longer be checked and verified in real time by poll workers in a polling location, New York will need to develop guidance if voters mark their ballot differently than the standard instructions. This will also require increased training for workers. Additionally, the BOE must develop clear and uniform policies on voter signature requirements: States with vote-by-mail employ and adequately train signature verification judges to determine accuracy. If voters forget to sign the return envelopes or election administrators have concerns regarding the authenticity of the signature, they should be notified and given ample time to correct these issues. New York then should also extend timelines to receive postmarked ballots. Like Caliafornia, New York should allow ballots postmarked on Election Day and received no later than 3 days after Election Day to be counted.

Increase Early Voting to 18 days and Add More Poll Sites

Some voters will still need to cast a ballot in person. This is particularly true for voters with disabilities who require the use of ballot marking devices and those who need access to translation services. Even '100% vote-by-mail states' like Washington State still have in-person voting as an option during early voting and on Election Day.

Voters who request and fail to receive an absentee ballot -- because the BOE can't manage requests, the mail isn't functioning, or some other reason -- will also need an in-person option.

Currently, New York state allows voters nine days of early voting. Other states like Washington provide 18 days of early voting. New York needs to at least double early voting days as well as add more poll sites to help distribute and reduce the density of each individual poll site to adhere to CDC guidelines.

Any in-person voting must be conducted in such a manner that voters, poll workers, and election administrators are kept safe and healthy by following the most recent CDC sanitary and mass gathering protocols.

The Legislature Must Commit to Staying in Remote Session

New Yorkers need the legislature to commit to staying in remote session to pass Senator Biaggi and Senator Myrie's bills, scale up early voting, and continue to do the people's business in a democratic society. The Legislature is a co-equal branch of government and the Governor should not be allowed to legislate by executive order alone. There are 213 duly elected representatives with a job to do.

Pennsylvania is already holding remote hearings, committee meetings, and voting.

Last week, both the Assembly and the Senate passed resolutions and rules changes that will allow lawmakers to vote remotely on a limited or as needed basis, but neither house has specifically indicated exactly when session will resume. The Legislature has the advanced technology to handle remote hearings and votes. Ten years ago the NYS Senate overhauled its technology systems to better allow legislators to work remotely-- implementing webmail, supporting smartphones and tablets for the first time, installing secure WiFi routers in District Offices, and modernizing many of the institution's legislative and constituent data and workflow management software applications so that they could be accessed outside of Albany, and publishing all of the Senate's spending and voting data on the Web.New remote meetings and legislative workflow management could readily be added by vendors like Granicus, Tallan, PrimeGov, and Propylon, and even more simply by adding affordable off-the-shelf tools such as Zoom to the legislature's existing in-house capabilities. Remote voting, given the bi-cameral nature of State legislatures, could require some custom work by the highly capable legislative IT organizations.

Lawmakers don't need to be in Albany to know what's going on in Albany. They have the tools to work remotely, they just need the will.