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Stefanik sues after Hochul signs voting by mail into law

Sep 21, 2023 12:59 am

Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that on Sept. 20 Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill that allows any New Yorker to cast their vote by mail. Hochul said, "It's finally time to allow people to vote by mail.... Why not? What is so sinister? Why would this be attacked? What are you afraid of?" Rep. Elise Stefanik leads a Republican lawsuit filed in the state Supreme Court of Albany County Sept. 20 against the measure. The lawsuit says the state's constitution only allows absentee voting in cases of not being in your registered county on Election Day or an illness or disability. Stefanik said, “Kathy Hochul and extreme New York Democrats are trying to destroy what is left of election integrity in New York." But Hochul framed the issue differently, saying, "There's a more sinister, slow-motion insurrection going on, a little more under the surface perhaps than what we saw on Jan. 6.... It's happening quietly in Republican legislatures all across America ... They're stripping away these rights. They're doing the exact opposite of what needs to happen." Voting by mail was used nationally throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with few reports of any problems. The bill Hochul signed also expands same-day voter registration and requires officials at prisons to provide voting rights information when prisoners are released from incarceration. And the new law also creates a penalty if an electoral college "elector" votes against the will of the people. Read more about this story in the Times Union.