Community Organizations Across NY Urge Voters to Vote YES on Voting Rights and Redistricting Ballot Questions
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July 28, 2021
On November 2nd, as voters across the state head to the polls for important municipal elections, they will also have the opportunity to vote on ballot questions that will improve the state’s voting rights and redistricting process. As community organizations working year-round to increase civic engagement in our communities and representing hundreds of thousands of immigrant, Black, brown, people with disabilities and working-class New Yorkers, we urge voters to vote “yes” on those ballot questions.
In the face of attacks on voting rights and the Census in recent years, as well as a global pandemic that presented new challenges for making sure that voters can safely cast their ballots, New York legislators have taken concerted action to safeguard our democracy. The state legislature has wisely passed legislation to adopt same-day voter registration, no-fault absentee voting, and redistricting reform. Because all of these changes require a change to the state constitution, these reforms had to pass the legislature twice (which they did handily) and will now go before the voters in November. We urge voters to support all three measures for the following reasons:
Same-day voter registration: this critical voting rights policy will ensure that all eligible voters are able to cast their ballots. Many voters only start paying attention to elections, or only become aware of problems with their registration status, just before Election Day. Same-day voter registration will ensure those voters can cast their ballots.
No-fault absentee voting: as we have seen during the pandemic, absentee voting provides a crucial opportunity for voters who are not able to get to the polls to cast their ballots. This has been particularly true during a health emergency, but it’s true in every election — there are many New Yorkers who struggle to get to the polls, or who simply prefer to cast their ballots by mail. Permanently adopting no-fault absentee voting will remove a barrier for these voters.
Redistricting reform: the redistricting reform passed by the legislature includes several important provisions that will improve the process, including requiring that incarcerated persons be counted at the place of their last residence for redistricting; requiring the state to count New York residents, not just citizens, should the federal census fail to do so; removing the block-on-border requirement for Senate districts; capping the number of state senators at 63; moving up the timeline for redistricting and repeal inoperative language; and eliminating the differential vote thresholds for adopting redistricting plans based on which party controls the legislature. These measures will clarify and improve the redistricting process this year, when Census data have been delayed due to the prior federal administration’s bungling, and in the future.
If passed, these ballot initiatives will allow New York to expand voting rights and to improve and clarify its redistricting process. It will also ensure that all residents, including those who are incarcerated and those who are not yet citizens, are counted. While the state remains far from the gold standard of a nonpartisan redistricting process — for which we will continue to advocate in advance of the next decennial census — this is a step in the right direction.
Signed,
Make the Road New York
New York Civic Engagement Table
Common Cause New York
VOCAL-NY
Citizen Action of New York
Community Voices Heard
Strong Economy for All Coalition
Churches United for Fair Housing
Alliance for Quality Education
Empire State Indivisible
Indivisible Upper East Side
Long Island Activists
NY Indivisible
Let’s Visit Lee Zeldin
IndivisibleWeStand UWS
Long Islanders for Gun Safety
Long Island Civic Engagement Table
Elmont Cultural Center
Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson
Jews for Racial & Economic Justice
Indivisible Nation BK
Indivisible Patriots of Long Island
New York Communities for Change
PEER/Suffolk County
New Reformers
East End Action Network
Brooklyn Voters Alliance
Hand in Hand: Domestic Employers Network
Bay Shore Babylon Women’s Huddle
Open Buffalo
SEPA Mujer
To Do List, An Indivisible Chapter
VOICE Buffalo
Indivisible Brooklyn
Center for Popular Democracy
New York Working Families Party
PUSH Buffalo
NY02 Indivisible
Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson
Women Creating Change
Community Votes
Rise and Resist
Inwood Indivisible
Indivisible Activate NYC
Sustainable Port Chester Alliance
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Community Center
East Bronx Indivisible
Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY
Downtown East for Progress
Central Queens Redistricting Coalition
