Senate leaders lay out next steps for voting reform
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State Senate leaders outlined a legislative package to reform voting in New York. Screenshot via Zoom
By Rachel Vick
Members of the State Senate majority gathered Monday to discuss a collection of bills they say will strengthen the integrity and accessibility of voting in New York.
Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins joined Queens Sen. Michael Gianaris and a half dozen other members to discuss their bills on the subject, including Gianaris’ Democracy Preservation Act to prohibit companies with significant stake owned by foreign nationals from making contributions in local elections.
“We are here thanks to one simple thing; that the people voted for us,” Stewart-Cousins said. “We work hard to cut away red tape to eliminate unnecessary barriers that not only discourage voters from casting their ballot but sometimes even penalizing them in the process.”
“The house of our democracy is like any other muscle; it grows stronger with exercise and if we don't use it we lose it,” she added. “That's why our work on voting reform will never be finished, because we can always do more to liberate the process, to empower people and to make them understand that this franchise is the cornerstone of our democracy.”
Stewart-Cousins quoted rapper Drake to exemplify the ongoing work of the Democrat-led state legislature to promote democracy through voting protections, and encouraged voter participation after the state “started from the bottom.”
In November, only 23 percent of eligible voters in New York City cast a ballot in the mayoral election, the lowest turnout in a mayor’s race dating back to the 1970s.
The bill banning those with more than one percent stake owned by a single foreign national or more than five percent owned by several from making political contributions in New York’s state and local campaigns was first introduced in 2020. It also bans the companies from funding independent expenditures or political action committees and currently awaits approval in the Senate Rules Committee.
It was passed the day it was introduced with a 48 to 15 vote, joining similar prohibitions from municipalities in Washington and Florida.
“Unlimited corporate spending has a pernicious effect on our elections and my Democracy Preservation Act will make substantial inroads in fighting the undue influence of big corporations on our democracy,” Gianaris said. “Enactment of this bill would ensure that New York’s elections are decided by its people, not by big corporations.”
Also present were Sens. Zellnor Myrie, Brad Hoylman, Alessandra Biaggi and Brian Kavanagh, each promoting voting reform bills to address shortcomings in different facets of the process from expanding secure ballot boxes to easing voter registration for college students.
Myrie juxtaposed the state’s efforts to expand voting access and security against other state’s legislatures rolling back voting protections, making it more difficult for voters to participate through hundreds of bills restricting voting access by reducing poll hours and absentee procedures.
Other states, he said, complicate the registration process. New York’s Senate, he said, “will remain a defender in democracy.”
Over the last two years, the state has passed a number of reforms to expand access including updating registration for in-state relocation, expanding early voting and requirements for informing voters of upcoming elections.
