Election Reform Day at the Capitol

From an Election Law perspective, Tuesday was quite a busy day at the State Capitol.

Gov. Cuomo went first, releasing his election reforms legislation (read the bill text and sponsor’s memo) that he first announced earlier this month. (Read my prior blog post here.)

The Governor proposes to creation the new position of Chief Enforcement Counsel at the State Board of Elections (SBOE) — whom the Governor would appoint, repeal of the Wilson-Pakula law, and to make a voter’s change in party enrollment effective 90 days after it is made.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Attorney General Schneiderman held a press conference in the afternoon announcing “early voting” legislation. They spoke in support of A.689-A Silver (no Senate same as) that would allow early voting in general, primary and special elections in New York.  Each local Board of Elections would designate at least four polling places where voters could cast an early ballot.

Read the Assembly’s press release, and the Attorney General’s press release.

Finally (I hope), Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein introduced S.4897, the Integrity in Elections Act of 2013.

His bill would put into place a system of publicly financed campaigns with a 6-to-1 match for donations up to $250, impose spending limits on participating candidates, ban party committees and transfers, repeal Wilson-Pakula and establish a Campaign Finance Board within the State Board of Elections.

He proposes to fund the program through unclaimed funds, a 10% surcharge on civil lawsuits where the state is a plaintiff, and a tax check-off box.

We are also likely to see some hearings announced in the near future.  Senator Klein told reporters that he plans to begin a series of statewide hearings on campaign finance reform and publicly financed campaigns this week. Fellow IDC member David Carlucci announced today that he will be hosting the first meeting on Wednesday, May 8th.