New York's antiquated voting laws make our state one of the least democratic in the country
Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon released ‘Democracy For All,’ her plan to empower voters by ending New York’s system of voter suppression. Cynthia also released an accompanying video on her plan and Governor Cuomo’s failure to reform New York State voting laws.
“New York needs a Governor who is committed to ending voter suppression, and Governor Cuomo has not been up to the task,” said Cynthia Nixon. “The reality is that women, people of color, young people, and low-income New Yorkers who make up the base of the Democratic Party are the most disenfranchised under our current system, and we need to ensure that their voices are heard in our democracy.”
New York's antiquated voting laws effectively work to suppress voter turnout -- and that’s exactly the point. It’s a deliberate strategy by establishment politicians who make it hard to vote because they want to keep regular people out of the process, and keep incumbents in power.
New York is one of just 13 states that still doesn’t allow early voting - locking out countless working people who simply can’t get to the polls on a weekday - and no state in the country is more restrictive when it comes to changing parties. For the upcoming Sept. 13 state primary, the deadline to change party registration was a whopping 11 months prior on Oct. 13, 2017 — preventing 3.6 million registered unaffiliated voters from participating.
During the highly contested 2016 general election, New York’s voter participation came in 41st in the country with a 57.3% voter turnout. In the 2016 Democratic primaries, New York came in second to last in participation with only Louisiana beating us. Cynthia’s plan would make it easier to vote, not harder — by introducing simple, critical measures that are being enacted in many states across the country including early voting, automatic voter registration, and changing the draconian deadlines on party registration. The full plan is available HERE.
