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P E R S P E C T I V E : E l e c t i o n D a y I s N o v e m b e r 3
Make Your Voting Plan Now
BY LAURA WOOD & JARRET BERG
Amid the ongoing uncertainty
and hardship
wrought by the raging
COVID-19 pandemic,
one bright spot where relief has
kept pace with the public health
emergency in New York is the progress
made reducing longstanding
barriers to voter access, by modernizing
our elections and improving voter
convenience.
Although there are evolving headwinds
to political participation, New
York is providing voters safe and convenient
options to make their voices
heard at the ballot box. For those
who have not cast a ballot since the
midterm elections in 2018, there are
now “Three ways to vote in Election
2020” instead of the single Election
Day, providing residents with fl exible
in-person and remote voting options
to choose from in the coming days.
Early Voting: Saturday October
24 – November 1. Thanks to 2019
legislation that created a reasonable
in-person early voting period, New
York City will now offer residents an
additional 64 hours to vote over
nine days, including two weekends
and evening hours on select weekdays.
The early voting period runs
from Saturday, October 24 – Sunday,
November 1. During this time
city voters may visit their assigned
early voting location — one of eightyeight
being deployed around the City.
Those that do will privately mark and
scan their ballot just as they would on
Election Day, minus the big crowds.
Casting a ballot during the early
voting period allows New Yorkers to
maintain adequate social distance
VOTEEARLYNY.ORG
while voting. By spreading voters
out over several days instead of one
marathon voting day, early voting is
one of the most prescient recent reforms,
adopted before social distancing
was understood to be a public
health benefi t. New Yorkers, always
mindful to wear their masks, have
the option to include voting early as
they venture out for groceries or run
errands. One more benefi t: Early
voters avoid USPS logistics entirely;
there is no need to forage for stamps.
Voting from Home: Request
your ballot by October 27. As New
York’s COVID infections surged this
past spring, Governor Andrew
Cuomo clarifi ed in an executive order
that a voter’s unavailability to
appear in person due to “temporary
illness” — one of the permissible reasons
— includes “the prevalence and
community spread of COVID-19” illness,
including “the potential for
contraction.” This summer, lawmakers
codifi ed this understanding, permitting
any New Yorker to vote from
home, but only if they request a ballot
by the October 27 deadline.
For those considering voting from
home, it’s easier than ever to do so.
Thanks to a new law, anyone with internet
access can request a mail ballot
online in seconds by completing a
simple online form. New Yorkers can
also request a ballot by calling
1-866-VOTE-NYC (1-866-868-3692).
Various due process safeguards
have also been enacted to
better protect our voting rights from
several technical pitfalls. Critically,
city voters can now track a ballot request
and will be able to confi rm that
completed ballots have been timely
received by the Board. Voters who
are skittish about returning a ballot
through the mail or are short on
stamps may drop off their signed, dated,
and sealed ballot envelope without
waiting in line, via any of the secure
contactless drop boxes that
will be located at the entrance of
all early voting or election day poll
sites, and all City Board of Elections
offi ces. For those mailing in a completed
ballot, although postage is
required, the USPS agreed on Friday
that it would to deliver election
mail with insuffi cient postage, as
part of a legal settlement.
Despite a recent error that resulted
in a large subset of Brooklyn
absentee voters receiving incorrect
oath envelopes, nobody’s vote will
be counted twice because envelopes
with signatures belonging to an
entirely different voter must be
set aside. The real concern, however,
is a risk of suppression among
those impacted who might ignore
the remedial (second) mailer if they
believe they’ve already voted. Stakeholders
are attempting to notify those
affected. You can help by sharing this
PSA.
Vote on Election Day: Tuesday
November 3, 6 AM– 9 PM: New Yorkers
are still welcome to wait for Election
Day, the last opportunity to vote,
when polls will be open from 6 AM to
9 PM, but now they have some really
decent alternatives to avoid crowding
at poll sites. But we have to spread
the word so New Yorkers can make
informed voting plans.
That is why the Mayor’s Democracy
NYC Initiative, through an informal
consortium of agencies including
the Campaign Finance Board and
voting rights groups, have committed
to educating voters about these
changes through robust outreach in
multiple languages directed at voters
in the communities hardest hit
by COVID-19, many of which also
have historically lower participation.
Many things about New York are
necessarily different now, at least
for the time being. But one series of
long-overdue changes that need not
sunset are the many improvements
to voter access.
Laura Wood is the senior advisor and
general counsel at the Mayor’s DemocracyNYC
Initiative. Jarret Berg is an
attorney and co-founder of the nonpartisan
VoteEarlyNY.
October 22 - November 4,22 2020 | GayCityNews.com
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