Under current state law, if a voter casts an affidavit ballot at a polling place that they haven't been assigned to, known as "wrong church," the entire ballot is thrown out.
The New York State Senate election committee may be breaking the mold of cyclical and predictable debate about voting administration and its discontents with a series of public hearings meant to broadly chronicle the experiences and ideas of voters across the state.
The committee is holding four hearings in every corner of the state to give a platform to voters ahead of the traditional post-election oversight hearing where lawmakers interrogate election administrators and experts about how the process went. That hearing is scheduled for late September and will undoubtedly focus on election errors, particularly in New York City, and the rollout of the city s first major ranked-choice voting election in June. The hearings will be led by Senator Zellnor Myrie, a Brooklyn Democrat and the committee chair, who said he wants to use them to inform the best solutions for reform and improvements.
New York Restores Voting Rights For Formerly Incarcerated People
arrow Voting booths, November 2020. Scott Lynch / Gothamist
New York took a major step towards expanding the number of eligible voters in the upcoming primary election when Governor Andrew Cuomo last week signed a bill that restores voting rights for anyone released from prison. If they’re released before May 28th, they could register to vote in the June 22nd primary election.
Since 2018, Cuomo has been using his pardon power to restore voting rights to most people on parole. This new law codifies that rule so that upon release from prison everyone automatically has their voting rights restored and can immediately register.