This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated October 22, 2021
Voting season is upon us in New York, with early voting beginning Saturday, October 23. More than 300,000 New York City residents cast their votes via early voting or mail-in ballot in June’s primary, which accounted for about one in three of every vote counted.
There is no doubt that, regardless of who anyone chooses to vote for, early voting and mail-in voting have enabled many more New Yorkers to participate in our elections and it is, unsurprisingly, widely popular among voters of all political affiliations.
Following election wins in 2018 which allowed Democrats to take control of the New York State Senate, one of their first actions was to pass legislation making it easier for all of us to vote. Early voting — allowing for nine days, including two full weekends of open poll sites prior to Election Day – went into effect immediately in 2019 and the results have been overwhelmingly positive.
Voting by mail had previously been restricted to only voters who would be out-of-state on Election Day or physically unable to vote in person due to illness or disability. Temporary accommodations for no-excuse absentee voting, made necessary due to the pandemic, have permitted any registered voter to request a mail-in ballot and this has also been a resounding success.
“GOP leaders will lead you to believe that expanding the franchise to mail-in voting will lead to endless fraud, but that is simply not supported by any evidence.”
However, Republicans, as they did for years with early voting, want you to believe that there will be terrible consequences if we make it easier for all of us to vote by mail. They no longer seem to protest against early voting, being that since it has become law, it has worked very well and is extremely popular, including among their own registered party members. Mail-in voting though, which is not yet law, is being portrayed by leaders on the right as something that is dangerous, so they have focused now on trying to convince voters to be against it.
That is where all of us come in. Besides the races for elected offices we will be voting on this election, the back side of the ballot includes five ballot proposals that we get to weigh in on. One of those, proposition four, would make no-excuse absentee ballot voting permanent, providing everyone a better opportunity to have their vote counted.
GOP leaders will lead you to believe that expanding the franchise to mail-in voting will lead to endless fraud, but that is simply not supported by any evidence. The overwhelming majority of states across the country, both red and blue, already have mail-in voting permanently available to everyone and it has been safe, secure, and successful.
Proposition three on this year’s ballot would allow for same-day voter registration. Currently, 22 states (including the District of Columbia) currently allow for same-day voter registration and, again, that list includes both red and blue states. Despite conservative leaders trying to lead people to believe this results in countless illegal votes, that simply is not the case in the many states that have permitted it for years. The current registration deadline preceding New York’s voting period often precludes voters who have had a recent change of address to cast their ballot, which this would resolve.
Proposition one deals with several aspects of the upcoming redistricting process. The Independent Redistricting Commission that was established by law in 2014, aimed to institute a non-partisan group to draw the new lines of New York’s congressional and state legislature districts. The proposed maps the commission recently published show that is not happening. The commission, which rather than being non-partisan, is comprised primarily of appointed Democrats and Republicans, could not agree and provided separate sets of maps that were completely different. In addition to fixing the process to enable new districts to be drawn fairly and in a timely manner, proposition one would count incarcerated people in their home counties, rather than in the county where they are imprisoned, which has led to city districts being undercounted for years.
Make sure to flip your ballot over and vote yes on these three propositions, as well as for proposition two ensuring our right to a healthful environment and clean air and water, and proposition five, allowing city civil courts to hear cases involving matters up to $50,000.
