New York’s legislature has approved an elections bill modeled on legislation that failed to pass in the United States Congress.
“We have passed the most powerful and most comprehensive voting rights protections in America,” Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, a Democrat, said in a statement.
It says that all laws related to elections must be “construed liberally in favor of” protecting the right to vote and making sure minority voters have “equitable access” to the voting process.
If any election offices or officials are found to impair the right to vote, then the New York Supreme Court shall impose remedies such as an alternative method of election, the legislation states.
The bill “will strengthen protections for all voters, especially those who have historically been disenfranchised,” state Sen. Zellnor Myrie, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Critics said the bill would federalize election administration. Among the provisions was making voting by mail an option in every state.
L. Joy Williams, president of the Brooklyn National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a statement that the New York legislation “represents hope for New Yorkers of color who are entitled to an equal opportunity to hold local government officials accountable at the ballot box.”
Not everybody agreed.
Gerard Kassar, chairman of the New York State Conservative Party, said in a statement that voting in New York is already easy.
“Ballots are printed in multiple languages; early voting takes place for a full 10 days prior to an election, and diverse slates of candidates are elected to public office every year under the current system. There is no need to add new, bureaucratic and redundant layers to a voting process that already works,” he said. “This proposal seeks to resolve a problem that doesn’t exist at enormous cost to taxpayers. It should be added to the growing pile of bad ideas out of Albany.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, has said she will sign the legislation when it reaches her desk.
