We applaud the New York State Court of Appeals for siding with New York voters and democracy Tuesday when it turned back a Republican-led challenge to the state’s vote-by-mail law, passed in 2023.
Starting this November, registered voters across the Empire State will be able to securely cast their ballots by mail if, for whatever reason, they can not (or choose not to) vote in person through early voting or on Election Day. Having the option to vote by mail is inherently good for the people of New York state, and ought to be considered good by all those who profess to love our democracy and protect our Constitution.
New Yorkers have indeed suffered from a major case of voter apathy in recent years. Turnouts in off-year elections have been nothing short of dismal, especially in New York City, where recent primaries and citywide elections have seen turnout hover at 20% or less.
We don’t know exactly why more people choose not to vote in years when a presidential race is not on the ballot, but the state seems to believe ballot access is a major factor. In the last decade, New York state took the big step of permitting early voting ahead of Election Day. That gave New Yorkers more time to go vote, but at designated early polling sites in their boroughs/counties.
Vote-by-mail gives every New Yorker the ability to vote on their schedule. This safe and secure system enables a voter to cast their ballot and either send it back to the county/borough board of elections by mail (postmarked by no later than Election Day itself, and received by no later than a week after the election) or drop it off at their early voting or designated poll site.
Yet Republicans like upstate Congress Member Elise Stefanik insists that vote-by-mail somehow undermines voting integrity. Such an argument cannot be taken seriously from someone who was one of 147 Republican House members who contested the results of the 2020 presidential election in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
What does undermine voting integrity, however, are politicians standing in the way of voters casting their ballots, by whatever means. Evidently, some politicians, like Stefanik, want to discourage more voting because they fear they will lose elections.
But this is America; every registered voter — Republicans, Democrats, independents, etc. — should be able to vote as they can, when they can. They should be embraced, not feared or excluded. Candidates should run to have the voters choose their ideas, rather than have the candidates choose their voters.
As for the voters of New York, you have been given a great gift in expanded voting access, and you should not waste it. This November, next November, every November and every primary — you need to make your voices heard and your votes count. Don’t sit on the sidelines. Vote!
