ALBANY – Declaring that the right to vote is “under attack” by Republican Legislatures across the United States, Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a package of bills on Wednesday seeking to expand that right in New York.
The most sweeping will allow any registered voter in the state to cast an early ballot by mail. To do so, voters would have to first fill out an application requesting a mail ballot from their local Board of Elections.
At a news conference in New York City, Hochul said the law will allow busy, working people to cast ballots that otherwise would lack time to do so.
“Today, we’re going to right the wrongs of the past and say it’s finally time that people can vote by mail. We saw it work during the pandemic,” Hochul said. “Why would this be attacked? What’s the problem with this? What are you afraid of? That’s what you have to ask those that are going to try and stop this.”
Hochul was acknowledging that the new law, which will take effect at the beginning of 2024, is nearly certain to face a legal challenge.
Currently, the state constitution requires voters to be absent from their home county, ill, or physically disabled to be able to vote with an “absentee ballot.”
In 2021, New York voters rejected a ballot referendum that would have allowed the Legislature to pass a law allowing voters to request and vote with an absentee ballot, without needing to cite a reason.
A multimillion-dollar campaign to defeat the measure, funded by a conservative billionaire, contributed to about 55% of the electorate opposing its passage.
Despite that 2021 defeat at the ballot box, supporters of the new law argue that it is constitutionally legal, according to the news website Gothamist, which first reported on Hochul’s plans to sign the bill package on Wednesday.
Those supporters argue that a “mail ballot” – a ballot sent through the mail – is not the same thing as an “absentee ballot” – although…
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