ALBANY, N.Y. — New York would extend absentee balloting through the rest of 2022 under a bill that breezed through the Democratic-controlled Senate and Assembly this month.
The Assembly passed the bill 100-45 on Wednesday, and the Senate passed the bill last week with a 42-21 vote. One Democrat in the Senate and two Democrats in the Assembly opposed it.
The bill will next head to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk. The Democrat's office did not immediately say whether she plans to sign it.
The bill's passage comes months after voters in November defeated two proposed constitutional amendments expanding voting rights. Democrats wielding a legislative supermajority had expected both to easily pass.
"The failure of the voting rights ballot proposals in New York and the threat to voting rights across our nation place an even greater responsibility on the Legislature to do the right thing and prioritize voting reforms,” Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, a Democrat representing Bronx and Westchester, said.
One rejected amendment would have allowed for lawmakers to pass same-day voter registration by getting rid of a requirement that people register to vote at least 10 days before an election. The other failed amendment would have removed a constitutional restriction limiting absentee voting to New Yorkers who are ill, have a physical disability or are outside the country.
Democrats passed the constitutional amendments for two years in a row in the Legislature: a requirement for getting a referendum on the ballot.
But the state's Conservative Party waged a successful, multi-million campaign against the referendum in the final days leading up to the November election. State campaign finance reports show the party spent nearly $4.2 million on radio and online ads beginning in mid-October.
The Conservative Party's ads argued that same day voter registration and expanded absentee voting would weaken election security.
Democrats did not mount a statewide campaign in support of the referendum - a decision blasted by voting right supporters who have long pushed for the reforms.
New York still took some steps to make voting easier last year: Hochul signed bills in December to increase the mandated number of early voting sites and require absentee ballots to be counted in time for unofficial results to be known on election night.
Since New York rolled out early voting in recent years, voting rights activists have criticized the lack of polling places and limited hours.
And in 2020, the presidential election was marked by delays as counties tallied up a tsunami of absentee ballots.
Leaders of the state Senate say the Democratic majority will pass a pile of other election bills this year: ranging from allowing portable polling sites to make early voting easier in rural areas, to allowing local election boards to set up drop boxes for absentee ballots.
Currently, New York only accepts voting registration applications that are postmarked 25 days before an election and received 20 days before a primary or general election.
Another bill supported by Senate Democrats would allow voters to register sooner: boards of election could accept applications received 10 days before a primary or general election.
