N.Y state officials, advocates share concerns with lawmakers about November election

ALBANY — New York lawmakers heard from election officials and advocates Tuesday as they assessed the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the state’s primary — and what to expect in November.

Absentee ballots, overburdened local election boards and Postal Service problems were the focus of the virtual hearing in the wake of the problem-plagued June contest.

“Too many New Yorkers saw their democracy fail them during this pandemic,” said Sen. Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn), the chairman of the Senate Elections Committee.

The coronavirus-sparked surge in mail-in voting in the primary led to long delays in election results and thousands of ballots being invalidated due to postmark issues and missing signatures.

According to Michael Ryan, executive director of the city Board of Elections, twelve times as many voters requested absentee ballots compared to past elections.

Lawmakers grilled state and local officials about ways to ensure voters can track ballots cast by mail and the possibility of drop boxes to avoid problems with postage.

Republican State Board of Elections co-commissioner Peter Kosinski warned that the surge of absentee ballots expected in the general election will place a “tremendous burden” on the current system “which was built to have voters vote on voting machines.”

“It means that the post office will be our partner in administering elections,” he said. “A significant portion of our elections will be administered by an entity over which the Board of Elections have no control.”

His message comes as President Trump has repeatedly castigated mail-in voting and claimed without evidence that expanding absentee ballots will lead to widespread fraud.

Myrie said that a representative from the Postal Service refused to testify.

State and local election officials lamented a lack of funds needed to step up operations ahead of the November election, but advocates suggested several actions that can be taken to boost enrollment, turnout and help manage a tidal wave of mail-in votes.

Some pushed for secure drop boxes and suggested promoting online applications for absentee ballots while others said more needs to be done to ensure voters can know that their ballots are received and counted.

“While there were errors along the way, the boards of election overall did a credible job navigating unparalleled circumstances and did their best to rapidly scale up a sleepy absentee voting program,” said Sarah Goff, the deputy director of Common Cause NY. “However, there is much to improve looking ahead to November in what is arguably the most consequential election in recent history.”