A Law Passed by the New York City Council in 2016 could have helped Prevent some of the many Problems plaguing the Absentee Ballot Process from the June 23rd 2020 Primary Elections. But that Law was never Implemented by the New York City Board of Elections (NYCBOE), a Quasi-State Agency that routinely Refuses to abide by Local Mandates.
The June Primaries saw the NYCBOE send out more than 778,000 Mail Ballots and more than 403,000 of those were Mailed Back by Voters and Marked as Received by the Board. Ahead of the Primary, Voters Complained for weeks that they hadn’t either Received an Absentee Ballot Application, or the Ballot itself after Mailing the Application to the BOE. Some even Received the Ballot after the Primary Election was Over, while untold Others may have their Attempts at Voting Invalidated for various reasons: No Postmark, Sealed with any kind of Tape, Signature Missing or Mismatch or Stray Marks on Ballots.
City Council Member Ben Kallos (D-5th District, Manhattan Eastside), said these Issues could have been Avoided. He Sponsored the 2016 Law that Required the NYCBOE to Create an Online Portal that would Allow Voters to Track their Absentee Ballot Application and their Mailed Ballot, along with giving them Access to their Registration Status, Voting History, and other Election-Related Resources. The NYCBOE never Created the Portal.
“The biggest impediment to free and fair elections and democracy in the City of New York is the Board of Elections, and it really shouldn’t be that way,” Kallos said in an Interview. “They only had one job and all they had to do was send people their absentee ballots and they couldn't even get that right. And because of the Board of Elections, tens if not hundreds of thousands of voters were disenfranchised.”
Ballots had to be Postmarked by June 23rd and Received by June 30th to be Counted. But, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) does Not Postmark Envelopes that already have Postage Paid, and despite Instructions to Postmark Voter Mail, some Ballots were Not Postmarked, which meant that otherwise Valid Ballots were not going to be Counted.
Those Rejections have prompted a Federal Lawsuit against the State BOE and the Governor by Two Democratic Candidates and more than a Dozen Voters, alleging Voter Disenfranchisement. “Depending on where the voter lived and what their local USPS office was doing or told, two voters could cast identical ballots, at exactly the same time, on the same day, and yet one ballot would be counted and one would not,” the Lawsuit states.
Already, the Mismanagement of and other Problems with Absentee Balloting has prompted the State Legislature to consider Ten Pieces of Legislation ahead of the Fall General Election to Improve the Voting Process, including a Bill that would Provide for the Type of Tracking Mechanism that Kallos’ Law Envisions, to the Entire State.
As it has done with the Kallos Law, the NYCBOE regularly Ignores Laws Passed by the City Council, on the Grounds that it is Only Subject to Mandates of the State Legislature. Though it is Technically a State Entity, it is Funded by the City and its Ten Commissioners are Appointed by the City Council. The Board has previously Refused to Implement other Local Laws, including One that Required it to Post Signage when a Polling Site is Moved. It also Decided Not to Allow Online Voter Registration after the State BOE’s Republican and Democratic Commissioners provided a Split Opinion on the Validity of Electronic Signatures.
If the State Legislature Fails to Follow Through on Absentee Ballot Tracking and Online Voter Registration, Kallos, who is Running for Manhattan Borough President in next year’s City Elections, said Voters should Reject those State Legislators at the Polls.
“As we head into the most important election in our lifetimes for the President of the United States, people will not be able to register online and they may not be able to request their absentee ballots online or even track and see whether or not their ballots are counted and all that just makes them lose faith in their elected officials,” he said. “And I hope that they will join me in voting out all the bums and going after all the corrupt party officials that are involved in a broken Board of Elections.”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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