Senate Democrats Push for Voting Reforms
May 9th, 2018
Last Tuesday, the newly-reunified Senate Democratic Conference held its first press conference at which they called for Senate action on a package of bills making it easier to vote. They noted that New York ranks just 41st in the nation in terms of voter turnout.
The bills the Democrats are pushing include:
- establishing early voting at designated polling sites up to two weeks before a primary, special or general election, including some weekend days (S.7400-A);
- allowing mail-in absentee voting for any reason (S.840);
- automatic voter registration (S.3409);
- extending primary polling hours upstate to 6 am until 9 pm, instead of noon until 9 pm (S.7264); and
- requiring Boards of Elections to notify voters when there is a special election (S.5527 and S.6733).