Did you know that New York state ranks 40th in voter turnout? During the 2018 midterm election, only 45.2% of eligible voters in New York showed up to the polls, lagging behind Alabama, Delaware, and New Jersey among others. What makes one of the most progressive states in the country to be one of the lowest in voter turnout? There are multiple factors that play into this low ranking.
New York is one of fourteen states in the country that is still a closed-primary state. That means that if one is not registered for a specific political party, they cannot vote in that primary. In most cases, that means that the voter has to be registered as a Democrat or a Republican in order to vote in the primary at all since they are usually the only parties to have multiple candidates running the primary elections.
Another factor that impedes voter turnout is the “wet signature” rule that is still used in New York. Unless you have a New York State driver’s license, you cannot register to vote online. Instead, you must obtain a paper voter registration form. Despite living in the digital era, New Yorkers are still beholden to physical forms. Only a hard-copy signature signed in pen counts as a “wet” signature. The signature provided on a New York driver’s license is the same signature used to vote allowing those with a New York license to register online.
Registration deadlines influence voter turnout. In New York, you have 21 days before Election Day to register to vote. In 17 states as well as the District of Columbia, one is able to register to vote on Election Day. This gives people the option to declare their affiliation right before voting.
The last factor that strongly influences voter turnout in New York is the amount of time that is given for people to physically vote. Minnesota, the state with the highest voter turnout, has an early voting policy that allows a person to cast their ballot 20 days prior to the election. They also have what is called “no excuse voting” meaning that Minnesotans are able to send in their ballot without an excuse for doing so. In New York, one must mail in an application to receive an absentee ballot and they must provide a reasonable excuse in order to receive the ballot. If the Board of Elections claims that the reason is not good enough to get out of in-person voting, they can deny the request.
Why does New York have these voting policies instead of adopting others that many states across the country use? While there is no one definitive answer, there are several possibilities: for example, if politicians grant these types of policies, they might see a shift in voter turnout that might hurt their campaigns. It might just be easier for them to keep with the status quo and not enacting any policies that might hurt them in the polls.
So what should New York do to get a higher voter turnout? New York State politicians can implement policies that encourage people to vote. Potential policies include: expanding the amount of days to vote as opposed to one random Tuesday out of the year. Voters could be permitted to register at their polling place. They could do more than the “old-school New York” practices currently in place. These policies have been successful in gaining high voter turnout in other states and New York should be no exception.
Voting is an American privilege that should not be taken lightly. It should be a simple process and not this long, aching, “just call the whole thing off” process in place in New York. Everyone deserves the right to vote no matter how or when they have registered. And with that, are you registered to vote? Find out here. Happy voting!