NY lets voters get absentee ballots due to coronavirus concerns

ALBANY, NY (AP) — New York will allow voters to request absentee ballots for the general election because of an outbreak — like coronavirus — under a new state law signed Thursday.

New Yorkers can now vote by absentee in any election through January 1, 2022, over concern about voting in-person during an epidemic or disease outbreak. For weeks, Democrats and voting rights groups had called on Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the legislation, which the Democratic-led Legislature passed in late July.

Voters were allowed to vote by absentee ballots in the June primary because of virus concerns. New York typically only allows voters to request absentee ballots if they fall into one of several categories, including absence from one’s county on Election Day.

Voters in New York can start requesting absentee ballots immediately under another bill Cuomo signed.

New York’s new legislation comes amid growing concerns about the impact of cost-cutting moves at the United States Postal Service, a potential surge in the pandemic this fall and mailing delays and other issues that plagued the June primary.

An unknown number of voters didn’t receive their ballot until Election Day or after, fuelling calls by voting rights group for a ballot-tracking system across New York.

Some lawmakers have proposed reducing reliance on the mail by allowing drop boxes outside the usual confines of voting sites and local election offices.

But State Board of Elections spokesperson John Conklin told The Associated Press it’s “unlikely” New York has the time to buy enough drop boxes to widely expand their use for November.

Election officials are expecting an even bigger flood of mail-in votes in November than for the June primary, after which results were delayed for six weeks.

Election officers worked through the pandemic to process 1.8 million requests for absentee ballots in a primary that saw nearly 40% of votes cast by absentee ballot — a monumental sum in a state whose long-restrictive absentee-voting system involves fewer than 1 in 10 voters in typical elections.

Unlike New York, 34 states allow residents to vote absentee without citing a specific excuse, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

New York state lawmakers who want to allow no-excuse voting would have to pass a proposed state constitutional amendment a second time in the next Legislature to send it to voters for ratification.

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