By Max Plesset MD.

NEED FOR NEW YORK STATE ELECTORAL REFORM

• Decreasing voter participation — only 19.7% turnout in 2016 presidential primary — second lowest in the country
• NYS has one of the lowest overall turnouts nationwide for all elections —46th in voter turnout
• NYS has one of the highest percentages of unregistered voters — somewhere between 4 – 5 million out of 15.5 million eligible voters

BARRIERS TO INCREASING VOTER PARTICIPATION

• One must register to vote at least 25 days before the next election
• No in-person early voting in NYS — one of only 13 states without it
• Limited places to register to vote
• No opt-out automatic voter registration (AVR) —6 states already have it
• Only online registration is on DMV site — excludes many New York City voters who don’t have cars
• Absence of a “no excuse” option on absentee balloting form
• Paper registration forms contain many entry errors and are recorded improperly
• Long lines at polling places
• Voter fatigue due to multiple separate elections (primaries, state and local)
• Interesting facts: many who want to register as Independents mistakenly register for the Independence Party. As many as 80% in one poll. NYS is the only state in US that requires a change in party registration at least 1 year prior to a general election.
• Required documentation for a driver license: SSN, birth certificate, Department of Homeland Security naturalization document, previous NYS Driver License with less than 2 years lapse

“VOTER EMPOWERMENT ACT” IS ALREADY IN COMMITTEES

• Early voting
• Automatic voter registration with opt-out
• Same-day voter registration
• Expansion of state agencies for registration — social service agencies, SUNY,CUNY,Public Housing Authorities,Departments of Corrections, Division of Military Affairs and others.
• Lower voter age to 16 — many already have a driver license and pay taxes
• Allowing felons to vote after prison release instead of after parole
• Open primaries — 3 million out of 10.7 million active voters have no Democratic or Republican Party registration — they can’t vote in primaries
• Ballot improvement — many ballots are discarded due to entry errors
• Consolidating elections to reduce voter fatigue

GOVERNOR CUOMO HAS PROPOSED TO MODERNIZE VOTING IN HIS 2017 STATE OF THE STATE MESSAGE

• Early voting
• Automatic voter registration with opt-out (AVR)
• Same-day voter registration
• Streamlined registration process to decrease errors on paper forms
• (No Excuse Absentee Ballot is not one of the proposed actions)

CONCLUSIONS

• Early voting and AVR can be accomplished through Legislative action. Legislative electoral reform has repeatedly failed, due to a highly politicized legislature. NYS Senate Republicans regularly stymie bills involving AVR and early voting
• Changing the voter registration process to same-day registration may require an amendment to the Constitution.
• A No Excuse Absentee Ballot does require amendments to the NYS Constitution which is a long and difficult process
• Turning Republican Senate seats to Democratic Senate seats would improve the likelihood of electoral reform. Incidentally, out of 32 current Democratic Senate seats 9 are in the Independent Democratic Conference that usually votes with the 31 Republicans.

CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION

• Last held in 1967
• Every 20 years it must be on the ballot for a vote stating — “Shall there be a convention to revise the Constitution and amend the same” — it will be on the ballot this Nov. 7, 2017
• If approved, there is a ballot vote for delegates in Nov. 2018
• A vote to accept or reject amendments would occur in Nov. 2019
• Multiple topics can be included for amendment consideration — legislative apportionment, issues of governance and judiciary, election law and ethics, reproductive choice (not currently in the NYS Constitution), etc.
• Only 2 electoral reform issues are noted in Article ll of the NYS Constitution. The 2 are Absentee Voting Only with an Excuse and the Deadline for Registration which is being debated.

BOTTOM LINE

• ConCon (Constitutional Convention) process is lengthy, cumbersome and costly — approximately 300 million dollars
• The legislative process, which is also difficult, may give us more hope for electoral reform

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION

http://on.ny.gov/2jrgOC2

http://www.gothamgazette.com/state/6295-there-is-a-long-list-of-voting-reforms-new-york-can-pass

http://www.gothamgazette.com/state/6724-cuomo-embraces-voting-reform-agenda-but-implementation-poses-challenges

http://lwvny.org/programs-studies/concon/2016/Powerpoint-Presentation-on-Constitutional-Convention.pdf