News Clips

Susan Lerner, executive director of New York Common Cause, said the bill will bring New York more in line with other states where ballots can be qualified to be counted in advance. “It makes a lot of sense,” Lerner said. “And is yet another step towards bringing our election administration fully into the 21st Century.”

“Early voting in New York will be a game changer for millions of New Yorkers, but only if it’s set up correctly. Suffolk County needs more voting sites and centers in places that are easily accessible for voters — not just those that have access to a car. The clock is ticking, Suffolk County BOE, time to get it right,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY.

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York and founder of the Let NY Vote coalition, agreed that the new northeast Queens sites are “good news.” Still, the advocate is far from satisfied with the BOE’s overall job on rolling out early voting in the borough at large.

“The Boards of Elections (BOE) across the state are setting up voters to fail in November by trying to sabotage early voting,” said Common Cause Executive Director Susan Lerner. “New Yorkers need access to voting centers in non-traditional locations, close to transportation, county-wide, and including local and state facilities. We’ve fought too hard to let New York vote, we’re not about the back down now.”

In a letter, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause New York and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said the plan “will impose a severe burden on many of the City’s low-income voters.”

“The Board of Elections is doing the bare minimum to implement early voting, especially in Queens where there are more voters assigned to each polling site than any other borough,” Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner said. “This is not only inexcusable, but likely a violation of state law. We need between 50-100 voting centers across the city to serve New Yorkers in non-traditional locations, close to transportation, borough-wide, and including city and state facilities. Both the city and the state have devoted millions of dollars to make early voting a success. It’s time for the BOE to step up.”