Assemblymember Pat Burke (D-Buffalo) announced that he helped pass a series of bills to help more New Yorkers exercise their right to vote and help prevent unscrupulous special interests from influencing elections. 

“Far too often, people are discouraged by the hoops they have to jump through to vote,” Burke said.  “We have an opportunity now to make much-needed changes to our election laws so that voting is a fair, transparent process and results in a truly representative government.”

Burke has been a longtime advocate for election reform, rallying in support of Fair Elections for New York campaign, which calls for closing the limited liability company (LLC) loophole to keep dark money out of New York’s elections. He voted for the Assembly’s measure, which would extend the $5,000 aggregate contribution limit for corporations to LLCs and require LLCs to disclose the names of individuals with membership interests (A.776).

“We know that pay-to-play is a serious problem in our government,” Burke said. “It’s imperative that we close the LLC loophole to ensure that candidates are running for the right reasons and are fully accountable to voters.”

The Assembly’s package also includes legislation that would make it easier for people to participate in elections by enacting early voting during a nine-day period before any general, primary or special election (A.780). Under the measure, polling locations would be required to be open for eight hours on weekdays and five hours on weekends and holidays, and to offer evening hours on at least two days. Burke also helped pass legislation to establish same-day voter registration, automatically transfer voter enrollment for New Yorkers who move from one county to another and encourage more young people to vote by allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote (A.777, A.775, A.774).