The Independent View: NY Election Boards Inundated With Calls from Voters About Registration Issues

Shortly before the late deadline to register to vote in the April 19th Presidential Primary in New York, State Board of Elections spokesman Tom Connolly said his office has been fielding nearly 100 calls a day from voters who are "pissed off" about their registration status, for one reason or another.

On social media, there are dozens of reports from voters who say they checked their registration online recently and found that their party affiliation had been switched, which is disqualifying because New York's Primaries are closed, or that that their registration couldn't be found altogether.

At the New York Board of Elections, Connolly said that his office looks into all complaints, and though the volume has been higher this year than his office has ever seen, "I've yet to come upon any example of any kind of mal-intent or inappropriate change of a voter's record."

Rather, he said, the increased call volume can be explained by heightened interest in this year's Primary and New York's newfound relevance to the nomination. As for the complaints themselves, the circumstances vary, but he said there's a rational explanation for each instance of seeming irregularity. For one, he explained that the complaints are largely coming from Democrats, Sanders supporters. There have also been some Donald Trump supporters who are angry that they missed the deadline to change their party to Republican. Because many voters only turn out for Presidential elections, and Democrats didn't have a Primary in 2012, it has been eight years since many people thought about their registration, he said.

In the interim, he said it's possible that people moved, or filled out forms at the DMV or elsewhere changing their party, and forgot to square away their new address or newfound interest in politics before New York's October 2015 deadline for changing parties, the earliest in the country.

"A lot can happen in eight years as far as moving around, not being aware, and filling out forms," Connolly said. "They just have this in their head that they should be a certain way, and when they find out that they're not, and it's too late to change it, they're usually pretty upset. I understand that, but there's nothing I can do about changing the laws."