Governor Releases Second Round of Election Law Reforms

Last week, Gov. Cuomo submitted to the Legislature a second program bill that is intended to increase voter participation.

Governor’s Program Bill #6 would:

• Allow persons 16 and 17 to “pre-register” to vote. Upon reaching the age of 18, the Board of Elections would then verify their qualifications and address and automatically register that person to vote.
• Reduce the number of signatures required to get on the ballot for statewide offices from 15,000 enrolled voters, to 10,000 enrolled voters.
• Reduce the number of signatures required to get on the ballot for the State Legislature;
• Require ballots to be printed in sans serif fonts;
• Require, in counties where ballots must be printed in a language other than English, that each version of the ballot can include English and only one other language; and
• Expand the time voters have to register for primary, general and special elections by 10 days.

As of this writing, the bill has not been introduced in the Legislature.

Read GPB #6, or the sponsor’s memo.

According to the memo in support, the bill would make it easier and more convenient to vote and enhance the usability of ballots.

Last month, Gov. Cuomo submitted a bill that would address changes in party enrollments, the Wilson-Pakula law and establishing an enforcement counsel at the state Board of Elections. Read my earlier blog post on that bill here.