It’s ironic that the people in this country most loudly claiming to be the defenders of democracy don’t seem to understand a basic requirement of it: the secret ballot.
New York’s Democrat-controlled government recently passed, and signed into law, a bill expanding early mail-in voting to make it virtually unlimited, despite the fact that New York’s Constitution only allows it
for people unable to go to the polls on election day. With early polling-place voting already in place, with few exceptions, the only people unable to vote at the polls will be those who are ill or have severe disabilities.
Setting aside concerns about the very real potential for vote fraud, what I consider a greater concern is degradation in ballot secrecy. When you go to the polls, you cast your vote by yourself with no one looking over your shoulder or telling you how to vote or knowing how you voted. When ballots are sent out and received via the mail, there is no such guarantee. There is not even a guarantee that the person whose name is on the ballot actually filled it out.
Besides being blatantly unconstitutional, this law severely undermines what’s left of democracy in this state. It needs to be repealed if the courts refuse to strike it down.
William Kriebel
Hopewell Junction
