ALBANY: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the implementation of a new ballot portal would allow any voter concerned about exposing themselves to potential COVID-19 carriers to receive an absentee ballot.
Gov. Cuomo also issued an executive order to support and increase New Yorkers’ right to vote.
The order required county boards of elections to take “concrete steps” to inform voters on modified election information such as dates, polling places, ballot registration, confused by the coronavirus pandemic.
County board of elections must send mail outlining all the deadlines for voters by Tuesday, Sept. 8, send staffing plans and needs to the state board of elections by Sept. 20, adopting a uniform clarified envelope for absentee ballots, and to count votes faster.
Local boards are also required to reconcile affidavit and absentee ballots by 48 hours after elections.
Andrew Cuomo signed three bills in late August to allow better voting access in the November election.
The first of the three bills gives voters the right to request an absentee ballot due to risk of illness to themselves or others, including COVID-19.
The second bill authorizes voters to request absentee ballots immediately, adding almost seven weeks to the amount of time a voter has to vote by absentee ballot.
This legislation eliminates a provision that prevented voters from requesting absentee ballots until 30 days before Election Day.
The last of the three bills ensure that all absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day on Nov. 3 or received by the Board of Elections without a postmark on the day after the election will be counted.
Ballots with a postmark demonstrating that they were mailed on or before Election Day will be counted if received by Nov. 10.
“Voting access is one of the core foundations of our democracy,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) said in a statement.
The legislation also amends election law to allow the Board of Elections to count all absentee ballots that have a time stamp showing they were delivered to the board the day after the election but lack a dated postmark.
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