Reinvent Albany Evaluates Voting Proposals in Executive Budget
Strongest Support for Online Voter Registration and E-Poll Books; Opposes Misnamed Election Day Holiday
Similar Measures to Half of Governor’s Proposals Recently Became Law
Reinvent Albany today released a detailed analysis of 12 voting reforms proposed by Governor Cuomo in his Executive Budget Good Government and Ethics bill, six of which are very similar to recently signed voting legislation. We undertook this analysis to help the public and stakeholders understand what the Governor is proposing and offer our perspective as a watchdog group.
The Governor’s budget puts forth 12 proposals that change voting laws. Reinvent Albany supports 11 of these voting proposals, 7 with required or recommended amendments, and opposes the Election Day Holiday proposal – which is not actually a holiday. We think online voter registration and electronic poll books are the most important voting proposals issued by the Governor.
Reinvent Albany’s priorities for the budget are:
- Codifying the agreements reached between the Governor and Comptroller DiNapoli restoring the Comptroller’s authority to pre-audit contracts before they are executed;
- Establishing a Database of Deals revealing all business subsidies received from the state by companies and jobs produced in return; and
- Establishing a public matching system for campaign contributions akin to New York City’s.
Reinvent Albany has evaluated in detail every voting proposal in the Good Government and Ethics bill, and additional standalone bills establishing same-day registration and no-excuse absentee voting. Below is an index of every proposal, and Reinvent Albany’s position on the reform.
Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget more broadly includes 24 different good government proposals including these 12 voting proposals, along with campaign finance and ethics bills. He also proposed in other budget bills, funds for clean contracting reforms and making the legislature follow the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).
Reinvent Albany separately published its evaluation of ethics measures, and will soon publish its evaluation of campaign finance proposals in the Executive Budget. We will also testify on elections and ethics on February 11th and on economic development initiatives on February 12th at the legislature’s joint hearings on the issues.
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