Photo courtesy of Eric Dinowitz
On Jan. 2, Eric Dinowitz, district leader in the 81st assembly district and Democratic candidate in the 11th District City Council race, for which a special election takes place on March 23, wrote a letter to the City’s Board of Elections to urge the adoption of what he called critical reforms ahead of upcoming elections this year to ensure voters have the resources and opportunity to safely cast their ballots.
“To date, the Board of Elections has not done enough to ensure every New Yorker can easily participate in our elections,” he wrote. “Following presidential elections, New York has historically seen major drop-offs in turn out in municipal elections, and as we continue to live through a pandemic, bolstering and expanding absentee voting and early voting will be critical to preventing a decline, and ensuring New Yorkers can safely make their voice heard.”
Specifically, Dinowitz is calling for the New York City Board of Elections to take the following actions:
- Reinstate the online system for absentee ballots to, again, allow people to request and track their absentee ballots online.
- Commit to a significant public education campaign to ensure voters know about upcoming special elections and primaries, and how to vote in the new Ranked Choice Voting system.
- Dedicate [voting] days for seniors, and people who are immunocompromised, during the early voting period.
- Increase early voting hours and the number of early voting sites, and allow New Yorkers to vote at any voting site in their county.
- Mail an absentee ballot application to all eligible voters with return postage included.
- Post real-time wait times online for early voting sites (which he wrote was a measure taken in states like Georgia).
- Allow New Yorkers to immediately apply for absentee ballots for 2021 elections.
- Allocate additional funds to hire more unionized staff.
- Put drop boxes in public locations, like libraries and post offices, in addition to continuing to allow ballots to be dropped off at election-day poll sites.
- Provide a clear indication that voters who wish to vote absentee due to COVID, can do so by selecting “temporary illness” or another separate option.
Last year, as reported by Norwood News, on April 24, two months before the June primaries, at the height of the pandemic, and amid mass confusion surrounding absentee ballot application mailing delays, Gov. Andrew Cuomo mandated the automatic issuance of ballot applications to every eligible New York voter, saying, “The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our world. No New Yorker should have to choose between their health and their right to vote”.
Later, as part of a set of legislative election reforms aimed at addressing voting problems that arose during the June 23 primary election, Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed bill S8015D, sponsored by State Sen. Alessandria Biaggi (SD-34) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (AD-81), into law on Aug. 20. The bill temporarily expanded New York voters’ ability to vote by mail in further upcoming elections, including the presidential election in November 2020, and other elections taking place in 2021. Prior to the pandemic, absentee voting had been limited to certain categories of voters like the military and voters with specific illnesses.
Biaggi said at the time, “I introduced S8015D in March to ensure no New Yorker would have to choose between their health and fulfilling their civic responsibility. Unfortunately, during the June election, too many New Yorkers had to make that very choice.” Meanwhile, the assemblyman said, “Even as we still have many unanswered questions about how the absentee voting process will be conducted, it was imperative that we address the underlying eligibility question first and foremost. Now that we have established all New Yorkers are eligible to receive absentee ballots for the next sixteen months, we can turn our focus to implementing basic procedural steps like ballot tracking technology and ballot drop boxes.”
The new temporary law temporarily alters that definition of “illness” with respect to absentee voting eligibility to include “risk of contracting or spreading a disease that may cause illness to the voter, or to other members of the public,” such as in the case of the coronavirus. Essentially, it expands prior statutory language that had restricted eligibility for absentee ballots only to people with a specific temporary or permanent illness or disability or to people absent from their home during an election, such as military personnel.
To make this expansion of absentee voting permanent, an amendment to the State’s constitution is required and the earliest this can happen is in January 2022. Given this temporary statewide legislation has expanded the right to vote by absentee ballot, albeit temporarily, to all eligible voters during the 2021 election season, we asked the district leader’s team why it would be necessary for voters who wish to vote absentee due to COVID to select “temporary illness” or another separate option.
We were informed that it was essentially an additional back-up type measure to really ensure that voters would indeed receive their absentee ballot applications, upon request, and it was also to push the Board of Elections in New York City, in particular, to make the voting process easier in general for voters. Dinowitz’s campaign also told the Norwood News that he “is advocating to make the absentee ballot request process as clear as possible by stating that COVID-19 concerns fall under the ‘temporary illness’ category on the application form.”
As also reported by the Norwood News, last October, the assemblyman had also pushed for other measures with the aim of easing the voting process for constituents amid the pandemic by calling for the abolishment of mail costs associated with mailing back absentee ballots, among other measures.
Image courtesy of the governor’s office.
New Election Related Proposals Announced by Cuomo
On Friday, Jan. 8, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced further proposed enhancements to the voting process in New York State for upcoming elections, citing lessons learned from previous elections last year. The latest proposals are part of the Governor’s 2021 State of the State agenda, and include measures such as speeding up vote counting, adding additional time for early voting, and improving absentee ballot voting procedures.
“Our election system, on which our democracy is built, has, and continues to be, under attack by those seeking to undermine the founding principles of our nation and we must not only protect it, but ensure it can be accessed by all,” Cuomo said. “While we have already made some progress in modernizing New York’s election system, there is much left to do and this historic package of election reforms will be critical in strengthening how elections are run and ensuring all New Yorkers are able to exercise this fundamental right.”
In 2019, the legislature enacted legislation establishing early voting in New York State. In the general election in 2020, the first major election following the implementation of the state’s early voting law, the governor’s office said that more than 2.5 million New Yorkers, representing nearly one-fifth of all registered voters in the state, chose to cast their ballots during the early voting period. The governor said, going forward, he will advance legislation that extends early voting hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, as well as on a minimum of three weekdays during the ten day early voting period [ahead of each relevant election].
In addition, the governor said that the state’s election law currently prohibits voters from requesting their absentee ballots more than 30 days prior to Election Day. “Particularly in elections with large numbers of absentee voters, this timeline may make it difficult for county boards of elections to process ballot requests in a timely and efficient manner. This, in turn, provides voters with less time to receive their ballots, vote, and mail them back,” he wrote. Cuomo said he will advance legislation allowing voters to request absentee ballots 45 days prior to an election, ensuring they can be mailed as soon as the ballot is finalized and approved by the Board.
Another measure relates to the counting of absentee ballots. According to the governor, New York State’s election law does not facilitate the speedy counting of large numbers of absentee ballots – the law only requires that boards of elections meet to process and count ballots within two weeks of a general election, and within eight days of a primary election. “In practice, this means that counties do not finish counting absentee ballots until weeks after Election Day, and in 2020, when large numbers of absentee ballots were cast, New York State was among the slowest states in the country to post the results of its absentee ballots,” the governor wrote.
To ensure that New York State counts absentee votes quickly and efficiently after each election, the governor said he will introduce legislation requiring county boards of elections to process absentee ballots as they are received and to begin counting and reporting those ballots on Election Day.
With reference to the temporary expansion of absentee voting, mentioned earlier, beyond those who serve in the military or those who are ill, to include any eligible voter who may contract a serious illness such as the coronavirus, the aim was to ensure no eligible voter who wished to vote by mail would have to provide a specific “excuse” in order to do so. The governor said he would call on the legislature to act quickly to pass a resolution so that the proposed amendment [to the State’s constitution to make that change permanent] would get on the ballot sooner rather than later in order to be ratified by New York State voters.
Given the governor took the decision last year to mandate the automatic issuance of ballot applications to every eligible New York voter ahead of the June primaries, and given that there are still ongoing delays with receipt of mail in the state, Norwood News asked the governor’s office why, this time, he is simply proposing more time for voters to request a ballot application, rather than just mandating the automatic sending of the ballot applications once again, as he did last year. We did not receive an immediate response.
Reduction of Minimum Signature Requirements
In terms of other changes to the election process, as reported previously by Norwood News, a number of City Council candidates participated in a press conference on Tuesday, Dec. 29, where they discussed different proposals to mitigate against the health risks associated with campaigning in the Northwest Bronx, along with suggested alternatives. All were in favor of either calling for a waiver of the minimum 450 signature requirement or a reduction of the required number of signatures, as had been done during the June primaries, last year.
Another alternative discussed was a draft bill proposed by Manhattan Council Member, Ben Kallos, representing District 5, which would allow ballot qualification to be based on the minimum campaign contribution threshold set by the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB)’s matching funds program.
This voluntary, small-dollar, public matching funds program incentivizes candidates to rely on regular New Yorkers, rather than special interest groups and corporates, for contributions to their political campaigns. As a reward, for each dollar (up to a maximum of $250) contributed by a resident to a candidate’s campaign, the CFB program allots up to $8 in public funds to that campaign. Additional rules stipulate maximum allotment thresholds per contributor.
City Council candidate for District 11, Marcos Sierra, had said while he was not opposed to the latter, his only caveat would be that there were and are some smaller, grassroots campaigns, such as his own, which have not had the ability to yet meet the CFB contribution thresholds, and by choosing that alternative for ballot qualification, it would have the potential to disenfranchise some candidates in his opinion.
With nothing initially forthcoming from the mayor or governor in terms of heeding the collective calls for a waiver, about a week after the press conference was held, as reported by Norwood News, Sierra took to Facebook on Tuesday, Jan. 5, to set out his plans for the June primary instead. “I have decided to not participate in March’s Special Election for Council District 11 and will focus efforts on the June Primary Election,” he said. “This time will allow for better preparation to safely campaign given the new level of infection that’s hitting our community.” Sierra implored the other candidates who were and are out gathering signatures “to be safe, be careful and to wear a mask.”
Abigail Martin had also announced the same day that she was also withdrawing from the March 23 special election, citing similar health risk reasons. “Since entering this race, my focus has been winning the June 2021 Democratic Party primary, and serving a full term as the Northwest Bronx’s City Council member. That is still my focus,” she said. However, Martin added, “I will not be running in a March special election.”
In response to a request by Norwood News as to her precise reason for not participating in the special election, Martin said, “With the pandemic raging, and with the prospect of putting my volunteers and our community members at additional risk at this time, I know that this is the right decision. Democrats in the Northwest Bronx will have a real choice when they go to the polls in June.”
On Thursday, Jan. 7, the governor appeared to respond to the calls, announcing the extension of a prior executive order issued in March which reduced the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot from 450 to 315. On the same day, City Council candidate in the 11th District race, Mino Lora, had announced that she had contracted COVID and was self-isolating.
When asked for his reaction to the news regarding the reduced signature requirement, Sierra said, “I am very pleased that the governor was able to honor the request made of the candidates in the 11th Council District regarding the reduction of required signatures for the special election.”
Not all candidates in the race had initially called for the changes. Dan Padernacht, Abigail Martin, Carlton Berkley and Sierra were first to give their opinion. Jessica Haller later voiced her support, as did Lora. Later on Jan. 7, Eric Dinowitz also issued a separate press release in which he also gave his support to the lowering of the signature threshold, and called on his fellow candidates not to agree not to challenge the validity of each other’s collected signatures.
For his part, in response to the governor’s announcement, Sierra said, “I look forward to him extending the same protections for the June primary election.” Meanwhile, Padernacht said, “We appreciate that Governor Cuomo acted on our urgent appeal on December 29th to reduce the signature requirement for ballot access in our March 23rd Special Election for City Council.”
He added, “While we hoped for a greater reduction, this is a step in the right direction. I am grateful to Carlton Berkley, Abigail Martin and Marcos Sierra for working with me to bring attention to this matter.” Norwood News reached out to Berkley, Haller, Martin and Lora for comment also. Martin said, “Nobody should be put at risk for participating in the democratic process, yet this is what is happening every time someone agrees to sign a candidate’s petition. As petitioning continues, and COVID numbers continue to rise, there is no way of knowing how many candidates or campaign volunteers are spreading the disease.”
She added, “A reduction in the number of required signatures is not enough. There are safer ways to determine how candidates could qualify to appear on the ballot, the current system is antiquated and should be ended. Because of the petitioning process, it is likely that over a million New Yorkers from every neighborhood in the City will come into close contact with a campaign worker this campaign season. This is a preventable disaster waiting to happen.”
Haller said her team were happy that the governor decided to lower the threshold. “It’s important that we all focus on keeping people safe,” she said. “Our campaign has already submitted enough signatures to appear on the ballot, and we look forward to continuing to build our grassroots campaign in the coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, Lora said, “Candidates and our teams still being required to petition during a pandemic, especially with the more rapidly spreading virus strain, is bad public health policy.” She added, “The governor reduced the number of signatures needed for the special election after most of us have already met the original threshold. Temporarily ending petitioning would’ve been safer, and I hope he’ll do so ahead of February when petitioning is expected to begin for the primary election in June.”
Lora also reiterated her earlier support of Kallos’ proposed legislation to suspend petitioning, and instead have candidates qualify for the ballot based on their ability to meet the CFB’s matching funds program thresholds. We did not receive an immediate response from Berkley.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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