News Clips

“So then the question is how to handle it. Is it appropriate to give an additional vacation or personal comp time day in order to balance that out,” said Susan co, executive director of the government watchdog Common Cause New York, in an interview. “That’s a collective bargaining question, which so far it is my understanding the city has not taken up with the unions,” she added.

“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.

Common Cause New York Executive Director Susan Lerner said the law is “a vestige of the approach of the late 19th Century” where reformers believed an even split between two political parties was the only way to ensure fair elections. “Of course, we’ve evolved from that understanding to a much more nuanced understanding regarding nonpartisan election administration,” Lerner said. “But New York election law remains mired in the 19th century.”

The suit was filed on behalf of Jenifer Benn, an eligible voter who has not yet registered in Rensselaer County and is now fearful of the consequences of doing so. A coalition of advocacy groups, including the New York Immigration Coalition, the New York chapter of Common Cause, Community Voices Heard, and Citizen Action of New York are also plaintiffs.

Susan Lerner, with the government reform group Common Cause, said it was “pure human error”. “It was a typo,” Lerner said. “The word ‘not’ was in there when it shouldn’t have been. Very simple.” She said it was in a section hastily added during the end of session crunch to ensure that undocumented immigrants’ names did not get sent to the Board of Elections by mistake. “It was exactly the opposite,” she said. “It was an attempt to doubly ensure that people who were not eligible would be mistakenly picked up by the system.”

“I think it’s really unfortunate the legislature was unable to address the campaign finance issues that are so apparent in our state,” said Susan Lerner, the executive director of Common Cause New York, a good government group. “Even while striving for public financing of elections, there’s nothing that stops you from improving the campaign finance system, bit by bit.”