Albany, NY – New York State will no longer be known for its restrictive voting policies among the United States, and in fact may take a lead on progressive voting initiatives. On Monday, a number of long-sought election reforms are set to pass both chambers of the New York State legislature including early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots. While several bills which are likely to pass today merely bring New York into parity with the majority of states nationwide, legislators also are seeking to establish New York State as a progressive leader on election reform. One such bill, introduced by Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, would facilitate transfers of voter enrollment and registration statewide.

The legislation (A775) removes the requirement for voters to re-register when they move between counties and replaces it with a number of options: 1) File a change of address form with the board of elections, 2) Submit an affidavit ballot on Election Day with the new address, 3) Change address through the DMV, 4) File with USPS through the National Change of Address System, 5) Submit a Mail Check Card, or 6) Board of Elections receives returned mail with forwarding information. According to the Brennan Center, only 20 states currently or will soon have systems which allow for any form of voter portability.[1] According to data from the U.S. Census for the 2016 general election, only 55% of registered voters reported casting a ballot having lived in their residence less than one year compared to over 75% of registered voters having lived in their residence at least five years.[2]

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D - Northwest Bronx) said: “I am proud that after so many years, New York State will finally cease to be at the bottom of nationwide rankings on voter and election access. The legislative package we will pass today does a lot: from closing the LLC loophole to early voting and no-excuse absentee ballots to pre-registration of 16- and 17-year-olds, we will accomplish many of our longstanding goals. New York should be a forerunner of democracy in this nation, and with the passage of voter portability we are one step closer to this reality. I look forward to continuing these efforts over the next several months with my colleagues in the Assembly and State Senate as we seek to erase decades of backwards policy on voting and elections.”

Assemblyman Dinowitz also published an op-ed piece on election reform in the Riverdale Press, which can be found here: http://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/an-exciting-time-for-election-reform-in-new-york,67859

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[1] “Automatic Voter Registration and Modernization in the States”, Brennan Center. April 11, 2018. https://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/vrm-states-portability