What you need to know about early voting
Election day is November 5, but some voters may cast their ballots as early as September.
All New Yorkers will have the option to vote by mail instead of in person this fall after the state’s highest court rejected a Republican attempt to overturn a 2023 law allowing all voters to vote by mail.
The appeals court’s decision on Tuesday upheld New Yorkers’ ability to vote by mail for state and federal offices in November, including in what are expected to be close races for key House seats. The state’s Democratic lawmakers had passed the law over Republican opposition to increase turnout by giving voters another way to cast their ballots.
The law made New York one of 36 U.S. states that allow or require all voters to vote by mail, making permanent a practice that had been used in New York elections for three years during the pandemic, when anyone had the option to request mail-in ballots. This temporary move ended with the November 2022 election.
The Republican lawsuit, led by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, argues that the mail-in voting law violates a part of the state constitution that allows voters to request mail-in ballots if they are sick or disabled or are not home on Election Day. They said that means all other voters would have to vote in person, preventing a broad expansion of mail-in voting.
But a judge in Albany rejected that argument in February, ruling that the Constitution does not prevent state lawmakers from creating “alternative voting methods.” Republicans lost their appeals in May before the Appellate Division and on Tuesday before the Court of Appeals.
Initial decision: Court upholds New York state law allowing voters to vote by mail. How do you get one?
In a 30-page majority opinion, Chief Justice Rowan Wilson reviewed the history of mail-in voting restrictions in New York and concluded that the 2023 law could not be overturned.
“Had there been a clear, unambiguous, and enduring understanding by our coordinate branches that the Constitution requires in-person voting, this would be a more difficult case,” Rowan wrote on behalf of himself and three other justices on the seven-judge court. “However, the lack of textual support for an in-person voting requirement and the ambiguous nature of constitutional history regarding such a requirement do not permit us to rebut the very strong presumption of constitutionality that we must extend to the statute.”
Wilson acknowledged the “disturbing” prospect that Democrats passed the bill as a stopgap measure after their attempt to introduce mail-in voting without justification failed – a proposed constitutional amendment that voters rejected in 2021.
“But our role is to determine what our Constitution requires, even if the resulting analysis leads to a conclusion that appears or is unpopular,” he concluded.
Two other justices issued a separate 29-page opinion also affirming the 2023 law. One wrote a 30-page dissenting opinion.
“This Court has both the power and the duty to right what happened here. Our failure to do so diminishes our standing and defeats the will of the people,” Justice Michael Garcia wrote in his dissenting opinion.
Democrats and Republicans comment on the verdict
Democratic Attorney General Letitia James welcomed the decision. Her office had defended the New York Early Mail Voter Act since Republicans filed suit to stop it last September, the same day Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the law.
“The right to vote is the cornerstone of our nation, and government should make it easier, not harder, for citizens to make their voices heard. While some seek to erect barriers and prevent New Yorkers from exercising their constitutional right to vote, I will always stand up and protect this basic, yet essential freedom.
Stefanik responded sharply, accusing judges of corruption and urging voters to vote Republican because it was “the only way to save New York.”
“New York’s court system is so corrupt and scandalous that today’s ruling essentially declared that New York’s elected officials, voters, and judges have misunderstood their own state’s Constitution for over 150 years and that in-person voting outside of the currently legal mail-in ballot process was never necessary,” Stefanik wrote. “The Court scandalously claims to know the intent of the Constitution’s framers better than they actually did, and ignores the Framers’ understanding, previous Constitutional amendments on the subject, and norms of constitutional interpretation as ‘not relevant.'”
Hochul, who is attending the Democratic Party convention in Chicago, hailed the ruling as “a significant victory for democracy and another defeat for those who seek to disenfranchise New Yorkers and undermine access to the ballot box.”
“Generations of Americans have fought to secure and protect the right to vote, and we have a responsibility to continue to dismantle the barriers that still exist today and prevent far too many people from exercising that right,” Hochul said in her statement.
How do you apply for a postal vote?
New York residents can request an absentee ballot through an online portal on the State Board of Elections website or by visiting their county board of elections in person and submitting such a request.
In any case, county election boards must receive these requests no later than 10 days before the election — October 26 for the upcoming November 5 general election — in order to mail a blank ballot to a voter. (Voters who wish to pick up a mail-in ballot in person at their county election office can request to do so up until the day before the election.)
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at [email protected].
