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Common Cause New York is encouraging voters to make their voices heard, and promoting their 'Let New York Vote' campaign meant to expand voting accessibility and advocate for voter reform. The group's executive director, Susan Lerner, explains.

At a press conference outside BOE headquarters on Thursday afternoon, Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause NY, said that her organization scrutinized the voter files from the primary after hearing from more than 100 people who experienced problems while trying to vote. "We were shocked to find over 300 people who were able to vote in the Democratic Congressional primary in June, who are now mysteriously switched to being 'unaffiliated,' so there are a lot of answers we need," Lerner said.

“People who've only voted in New York think all the elections across the country are the same craziness,” said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause New York. “They are not.”

But perhaps the most significant takeaway from yesterday's primary is that the bar for record-breaking, expectation-shattering turnout in New York remains stubbornly low. As Susan Lerner, the always on-brand executive director of Common Cause NY notes, a majority of eligible voters still did not vote in yesterday's primary, and an untold number of those who tried found their registrations mysteriously changed, if not entirely purged.

“This is a perennial problem,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of voting rights organization Common Cause New York. “It’s very hard to maintain an active voter roll, but in New York City it’s particularly challenging because of the large number of voters, the way people move around readily and the fact systems are not user friendly.”

With New Yorkers heading to the polls on Thursday for the gubernatorial primary, it’s a good time to reflect on the dreadful state of the supposedly progressive state’s voting laws. Despite a governor who pays lip service to the issue, New York seems determined to make it difficult for its citizens to cast ballots, forgoing the progress made in much of the rest of the country in recent years. Perhaps not coincidentally, New York has some of the lowest voting rates in America. Daily Intelligencer spoke briefly with Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause NY, about why New York’s antiquated rules are still with us today, and whether they might change anytime soon.