Reply #9: NY: Assemblywoman Amy Paulin proposes voting reform [View All]

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin proposes voting reform

December 5, 2005

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin of Westchester County yesterday announced that she is proposing “profound changes” to the New York State Election Laws. Paulin was joined by County Legislator Thomas Abinanti, disenfranchised Irvington voter Susan Brenner Morton and members of the Westchester League of Women Voters at her District Office in Scarsdale to announce two legislative initiatives aimed at reforming the absentee ballot voting process and helping to prevent further voter disenfranchisement.

“Reforming the absentee ballot voting process in New York State is long overdue,” Paulin said. “Since the Help America Vote Act or HAVA requires all states to upgrade their election procedures by January 2006, now is the time to amend these antiquated statutes that disenfranchise New Yorker voters, especially women.”

The recent controversy in the Irvington Mayoral race and other close elections pointed to these deficiencies and prompted Assemblywoman Paulin to take decisive action. In the Irvington matter, Susan Brenner Morton’s absentee ballot was disqualified based a technicality in the Election Law. She signed the outside of the absentee ballot envelope “Susan B. Morton,” though she is registered to vote as “Susan Brenner Morton.” Her vote would have broken the tie between Republican incumbent Dennis Flood and Democratic challenger Erin Malloy. The election was later decided by a coin toss in Flood’s favor.

“An absentee ballot should not be discarded just because a qualified voter signs the ballot with some initials instead of her full name,” said Abinanti who represented Susan Morton in the Irvington case. “And a voter should not have to worry about the rushing to the polls to retrieve her absentee ballot and vote on the machine if she returns to the county a few minutes before the polls close.”

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http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/VoteRef-05Dec05.htm