News Clips

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, said the state needs to expand early voting and streamline the process for absentee voting to ensure elections are held fairly and safely.

Executive Director of Common Cause/NY Susan Lerner says though the Governor has been issuing plenty of executive orders, that can’t be the only way the state goes about its business…

“We need them to do the people’s business, and we’re sure they can use the tools to do it,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY... Common Cause – joined this week by elections commissioners across the state – also called for the expansion of absentee voting as a safety measure during the pandemic, something Lerner noted could be taken up in a post-budget “virtual” legislative session. And though Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo did it through executive order Wednesday for the June 23 primary, there's no reason voting shouldn't be easier in every election.

“Now that the budget is finalized, New York lawmakers can and must address the myriad policy issues and COVID-19 related legislation, including expanding absentee voting which is crucial to ensuring the success of our elections in June and November,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York.

“We need to have diverse voices heard in these policy decisions,” said Common Cause New York’s Susan Lerner. “Our representative system is geographically based, with the idea that different communities have different needs and therefore are individually represented with elected officials who can best articulate what their community needs.”

Now, with the budget process over, some advocacy groups argue that setting up a system to allow lawmakers to actually vote remotely or electronically is crucial to ensuring that they continue to legislate throughout the pandemic. “I don’t think it’s an ‘either or,’ I think the system has to be set up,” Susan Lerner, executive director of the good government group Common Cause New York, told City & State when asked whether the Legislature should move to actual remote voting for the rest of session. “We are paying them to be legislators, so it behooves them to utilize the technology that exists and do their jobs remotely, just as we are all doing our jobs remotely – those of use who are still employed.”