Albany, NY – New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an executive order today expanding the number of state agencies required to provide voter registration assistance, and creating a task force to study improvements to our election infrastructure. Chisun Lee, senior counsel in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, released the following statement in response:
“The governor’s move today sends an important message to New Yorkers — and the nation — that the government should make voting more accessible for all eligible citizens, not less. This is especially crucial in a state like New York with some of the lowest registration and turnout rates in the country, and with a federal “Fraud Commission” threatening to suppress votes at the national level.
“Today’s order is a good step forward, though more can and should be done to replace New York’s archaic, paper-based registration system with a modern, electronic one that increases efficiency and improves accuracy of our registration rolls. The governor and legislators failed to deliver on promises of voter registration modernization in the past legislative session, even after the state came in 41st in voter turnout in 2016. We urge Governor Cuomo to direct his task force to study the benefits of and best practices for implementing opt-out automatic registration — a reform that would move New York from the back of the pack to the vanguard of pro-voter states.”
For more on automatic voter registration, click here.
To learn more about the president’s “Fraud Commission,” click here.
For more information or to schedule an interview with a Brennan Center expert, please contact Rebecca Autrey at rebecca.autrey@nyu.edu or 646–292–8316.