TODAY: Nine Days After E-Day Mess, NYS Assembly Holds Hearing on Early Voting et al

NEW YORK, NY (11/15/2018) (readMedia)-- Today, Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY, and members of the Let NY Vote coalition will testify in support of early voting and other common sense election reforms at the New York State Assembly Elections Committee hearing.

Lerner is available for comment all day.

Background:

Election Day last week was riddled with problems, like long lines and broken scanners.

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, such as:

Early Voting: in place in 37 other states, allowing citizens to cast ballots in person days, sometimes weeks, before an election.

Automatic Voter Registration: in place in 16 other states, allows eligible voters to automatically register to vote and provides a vehicle for state agencies to efficiently transfer voter registration information to the Board of Elections.

Flexibility to Change Parties: 49 States have open primaries or allow voters to change of their party close to Election Day. New York has neither. Instead, New York has the most restrictive deadline in the country. To participate in the 2018 primary voters had to register this change more than 6 months earlier, before candidates had even been solidified, disenfranchising up to 3 million registered NY voters.

Pre-registration of 16 and 17-year-olds: 13 states plus DC allow for pre-registration for voting at 16 and 17 years old. Pre-registration increases the likelihood of voter participation among young adults. Engaging potential voters at a young age and bringing them into the voting process early helps create lifelong voters.