Cahill: 2022 budget improves absentee voting, requires polling places on college campuses

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ALBANY – Assemblyman Kevin Cahill (D, Kingston) is glad to see two improvements to voter access included in the state budget adopted late last week.

The spending plan will provide for postage-paid envelopes to return ballots by voters who chose to cast them absentee. The budget also includes a provision that institutions of higher education with over 300 residents will be required to host a polling place on their property beginning with the 2022 general election.

“Creating a space for students to be civically engaged is vital in maintaining our democracy,” Cahill said. “For too long, unscrupulous elections commissioners have misused their authority to disenfranchise young people. By inserting this provision in the budget the state will have the autho0rity to ensure boards are working to encourage voting rather than create a hindrance,” he said.

Jonathan Becker, executive vice president of Bard College, said the legislation is “critical, because it will stop practices designed to  suppress student voting, including situating polling in locations that are difficult to access and dividing campuses into multiple districts.”

Democratic Ulster County Elections Commissioner Ashley Dittus praised both provisions. 

“As a commissioner, expanding voting access for vulnerable populations has been a core mission. Unfortunately, students have frequently suffered undue hardships when casting their ballots; whether that is by not having resources to cast an absentee ballot or not having proximity to a voting location,” she said. “We have seen in the years of running a poll site on the campus of SUNY New Paltz the difference it makes in having a site where students can easily cast their vote and that campus has been recognized for their civic engagement efforts. Both amendments in the budget will go a long way to rectify undue hardships and promote participation in our democracy uniformly across the state.”




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