Early voting law aims to grant more access to Nassau County voters
Hofstra University hosted a panel comprised of lawyers and activists who work in election law reform to address the nature of New York state’s early voting law and the plan for its implementation on Wednesday, Oct. 16, in the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center Theater.
Historically, statewide New York government has been “dominated” by the Republican party, said Craig Burnett, associate professor of political science at Hofstra University and moderator of the panel.
The 2018 midterms changed this, however: Democrats retained the governorship and gained a majority in the state Senate, taking total control of New York government for the first time in a decade.
In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an election law reform package passed by the state legislature that officially gave the green light for early voting in New York.
Now, for the first time in history, registered voters in New York can cast their ballots early – from Saturday, Oct. 26, to Sunday, Nov. 3, a nine-day period before the Tuesday, Nov. 5, county-wide general election.
In Nassau County, 15 polling sites will be open for early voting: Elmont, Floral Park, Garden City, Glen Head, Hempstead, Hicksville, Lawrence, Massapequa, North Merrick, Plainview, Rockville Centre, Valley Stream, Wantagh, West Hempstead and Mineola.
More information about the addresses for these polling places and their hours of availability can be found on the Nassau County Board of Elections’ website.
The implementation of early voting in New York has been a goal for many in the African-American community for quite a long time.
“Early voting ... has been a go-to practice in the African-American community since the time of Reconstruction” in order to counter “systematic efforts to marginalize the effect” of the African-American vote, said Kira Bryant of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Nassau Alumnae Chapter.
A 2018 report on minority voting rights assessed by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that “cuts to early voting can cause long lines with a disparate impact on voters of color.”
“The obstacles are just different now,” Bryant said. “You don’t have to wait for the horse and buggy to get from the farm to the polling place, but there are other challenges in day-to-day life that may make it very difficult for somebody to vote on that one Election Day, in that one polling place. And that’s without any voter suppression efforts ... just the nature of life; it can be difficult.”
Brittany Clark, a senior political science major, agreed with Bryant’s sentiment but expressed a common concern about early voting. “While implementing early voting in any state is a stride toward leveling the playing field for all voters,” she said, “I think the problem with reform like this ... is that it becomes political rather than just a basic convenience for all voters. If we say that early voting is going to predominantly engage more minority communities, we are neglecting to acknowledge the other groups it will benefit as well, and are making a conscious effort to shift the dialogue for political gains.”
Bryant stressed that “the only way for the process to be truly fair is for everybody to be included and to vote.”
This is why the State has adopted what is called a “vote center model,” said Jarret Berg, co-founder of VoteEarlyNY, the self-described “non-profit hub for early voting rights, information, education and news” in New York.
Under a vote center model, those who choose to exercise their right to vote early do not have to do so at the polling place closest to them.
Berg noted that 54 of New York’s 62 counties have moved toward a vote center model so far.
“The goal of this law, when it’s fully implemented, is that every eligible voter in a given county will be able to access and vote early at any site,” Berg said. “One of the biggest breakthroughs of this reform is that we are moving to a vote center model.”
The panel shared the viewpoint that early voting and the overall election law reform package passed in January was long overdue.
Burnett attributed this to the lack of incentive for the GOP to institute a policy that would have weakened its former stronghold on state government. “Most politicians are loath to change any system that has benefited them in the first place,” he said.
Like Burnett, Berg noted that the New York election law remained frozen under Republican control and added that this might be a cause for concern going forward. “When you fail to modernize your election law for multiple generations, there is bound to be some growing pains,” he said.
“I believe it is a great idea to make the system more accessible and convenient to the voters,” said senior political science major Mitchell Ulrich. “I do have reservations, however, about the implementation due to the added complications of multiple days of polling.”
“As someone who has ran polls before, adding the numbers up [is] hard enough with absentee ballots. But to have to account for votes over a period of a week with machines that aren’t, in my experience, very reliable, could cause a situation where there might be miscounts or lost ballots.”
Berg stressed that this early voting measure is part of what is just the “first wave” of election law reform set to be implemented in the near future. He also was adamant that Nassau County is taking a step in the “right direction and has shown promise.”
As part of the election law package passed in January, each county in New York is now required to make seven locations available for early voting during the run-up to Election Day. Fifteen will be open in Nassau County in the nine-day early voting period.
Similarly, a minimum of 60 hours of early voting is required of each county by state election law. Nassau County is providing 70 hours.
“I’m proud to say that Nassau is taking the lead ... [Nassau] has one of the best programs from an access standpoint in the state,” Berg said.
