Should New York Make It Easier To Vote? [POLL]

With a new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the New York state Senate, legislative sights are being turned toward voting reform. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has in the past proposed a series of reforms that would, he said, improve the electoral process.

However, with Republicans in charge in Albany during previous years, none of the suggestions were passed.

Among the reforms that Cuomo wants and has mentioned before, as outlined in December at the New York City Bar Association, are automatic voter registration, making Election Day a state holiday and early voting.

New to Cuomo's political wish list is voting by mail, which would involve sending ballots to all voters who can then mail the completed ballot back or submit their ballot at a polling location before or on Election Day, auburnpub.com reported.

The National Conference of State Legislatures said that at least 22 states allow mail-in voting, something the organization calls "absentee voting for everyone."

In Washington, D.C., the House of Representatives, led by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also has voting rights in its sights.

The first bill of the 116th Congress — H.R. 1 — is called the For the People Act.

It seeks to reform the political system in a variety of key ways, said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring. He is a co-sponsor of the legislation.

Besides strengthening ethics laws and weakening the power of "dark money" in campaigns, the bill proposes to make improvements in the voting process that will increase participation and make elections more democratic.

It would mandate automatic voter registration, early voting and vote-by-mail options and would reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, key parts of which were invalidated in 2013 by the Supreme Court.

"People trust Washington about as much as they trust gas station sushi," Maloney said.

"They want a strong democracy that protects everyone's right to vote," he said. "This is the first bill I'm on this Congress because cleaning up Washington should be a priority for everyone who works down here."

So what do you think? Is making it easier for people to vote a good idea? Vote in our highly unscientific poll and then tell us why in the comments.

Image via Shutterstock.