This week the Senate took up legislation requiring boards of elections to count affidavit ballots of eligible voters if a voter appears at a polling place that is in the voter’s correct county but incorrect election district.
Currently voters who show up to the wrong poll site are told to vote by affidavit ballot. Although these voters may not be eligible to vote in all races on the ballot, they are frequently qualified to vote in certain races that may appear. Rather than counting races where the voter was eligible to vote, the current law disqualifies the voter’s entire ballot. Under the current law, 13,800 New York ballots in the 2020 General Election were disqualified because the voter appeared at the wrong poll site.
VoteEarlyNY has released a comprehensive report detailing the areas of the state where ballot disqualifications for this issue are most prevalent. You can find a copy of VoteEarlyNY’s report here.
The League is supportive of this proposal and has additional information about all of the election issues we are continuing to work on in our Legislative Packet.
