In an effort to modernize voting, New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced a proposal to overhaul voting throughout the state.

Cuomo’s proposal, titled “The Democracy Project,” would allow early voting, automatic voter registration and same-day voter registration throughout the state. New York is currently one of only 13 that do not allow early voting.

The proposal was one of 20 proposals made by Cuomo as part of his 2017 State of the State address.

“Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy,” Cuomo said in a press release. “This past election shined a bright light on the deficiencies of New York’s antiquated election laws and the artificial barriers they create that prevent and discourage voters from exercising this sacred right.”

During the 2016 election, voters could request an absentee ballot in New York, but only if they had an excuse for not being able to go to their voting location within New York state. If voters were a New York resident outside of Onondaga County, voters could not vote within Onondaga County, for example.

Cuomo’s proposal states that each of the 62 counties in the state must have at least one polling location open in the days leading up to the election. The proposal also calls for polling sites to be open 12 days before the election. Some examples of early voting states in the U.S. include Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

Without early voting, some students may find it difficult to attend a voting site if they are not located within their county. Syracuse University’s Student Association offered free bus shuttles for students who had to vote away from home in Onondaga County.

One of the other features of Cumo’s proposal is automatic voter registration, which will be implemented through the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles services. The plan is to send voters registration from the DMV to the individual County Board of Elections directly, which could potentially eliminate some unnecessary errors.

Automatic registration was utilized for the first time in Oregon in 2016, where more than 225,000 residents were automatically registered, according to The New York Times.

Another step that New York hopes to take in modernizing the voting process is to allow voters to register on Election Day. In the past, there has been an implemented deadline for voter registration, where if a resident missed the deadline they would have been unable to vote.

Currently, only 13 states and the District of Columbia allow same day registration.

Published on January 24, 2017 at 10:22 pm

Contact William: wgmuoio@syr.edu