Joshua Solomon reports in the Times Union that New York's Legislature voted March 7 to let voters continue to request an absentee ballot on the basis of COVID-19 concerns in school district elections this spring. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the measure into law. "I have to believe that there are some people who appreciate their right to vote but still have not gone back to their church congregation yet because they're still concerned," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes, a Democrat from Buffalo, said on the chamber floor. Republicans disagreed, even as Greene County officials reported new COVID-19 deaths on March 3, March 4, and March 7. "There has to be an end point and we have to get back to the normal course of action," said Lawler, who touted his own vaccination status and the need for the state to continue to push for increased vaccinations among the public. "But let's stop using this as a bludgeon to change every law we don't like." School board and budget elections are May 18 this year. Read more about this story in the Times Union.