As New York Starts Counting Mail-In Ballots

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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and New Yorkers may know who our next president and vice president will be, but exactly who's going to Congress and to Albany, not known yet in a number of races because mail-in ballots are only today starting to be counted. Now, given the unprecedented number of these ballots this year, it could take a couple of weeks for the individual counties to get through them all and that's if there were no legal challenges, of course.

To talk about the uncertainties facing the New York election results right now, and what changes we might want to consider for next time, we're joined by State Senator Zellnor Myrie who chairs the Senate Committee on Elections, that's the State Senate Committee on Elections, of course. His Brooklyn district includes parts of Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, South Slope, and Sunset Park in Brooklyn. I think I got them all. You might've seen this op-ed in the daily news today too urging the passage of the federal John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which we'll talk about too. Hey, Senator Myrie, welcome back to WNYC.

State Senator Zellnor Myrie: Good to be with you, Brian.

Brian: Why are the mail-in ballots only starting to be counted now? Can you imagine if our presidential vote was close?

Senator Myrie: I understand people's frustration and perhaps surprise that this is the case here in New York, but this has actually been the election law for quite some time that we don't start the counting until about a week after. Well, folks are understandably a little impatient and want to see these results come in as quickly as possible. That's something I think the legislature should be taking a serious look at the next legislative session.

I'd also urge folks that we want every vote to be counted. This is a painstaking process and it's better that we get it right than to get it done quickly. Again, I think we will be looking at changes going forward but it's important for folks to take some solace in that we will be counting every single vote.

Brian: What was the purpose though, if you're aware, of not starting to count the absentee ballots by election day? Obviously, take all the time that's needed for a full and fair count, but to not even start counting them until a week later?

Senator Myrie: As you know we did not have early voting in the past. All of the in-person voting would take place on election day and the current statutes permit for the in-person vote to trump the absentee vote. If you can imagine giving folks the people who have to administer the elections time to reconcile absentee ballots that came in with the in-person votes and having to determine which of those should count, would take time. We used to have the big poll books that folks had to wade through at the poll sites. We no longer have that. That reconciliation process is now much easier to do. I think that we're going to be looking at, again seeing how we can start that process much earlier.

Brian: You wrote the bill that gave us early voting, which is new in New York State, just recently. It wasn't that widely used for the primary but there were very long lines this time, as you know. How did you estimate the number of polling places needed and do you need to revisit that?

Senator Myrie: We, in the statute, created a floor for the board of elections as it pertains to allocation of early voting sites but certainly not the ceiling. It was hard to, in this initial presidential election, for the first time having that in conjunction with early voting, I think there was some uncertainty about how big the turnout was going to be. Last year, in the general election, there were 250,000 people that utilized early voting. Of course, this time around, there were 2.5 million people that came out. I think the message from New Yorkers is, if you make it more easy, if you make it accessible, we're going to vote in larger numbers.

I think there is a clear public mandate for us to expand early voting. Here in New York City, I think there is also some conversation around how we allocate the polling sites. Remember, for the listeners, you had one early voting site, you couldn't go anywhere to vote early, while over in Nassau, and Suffolk, and in Albany, their local boards of elections said that you could vote anywhere within the county. That may relieve some of the pressures on the lines, and again, is a model that I think we should look at.

I'd remind everyone that all of this costs money and I don't put a price on our democracy. It is the right that protects every other right, so I believe we should be investing at the appropriate levels, but all of the energy around fixing the process, I hope is maintained when we say we're going to need money to do that.

Brian: There are still some major races undecided because of this late absentee vote counting and how many there are, like Congressman Max Rose defending his seat in Brooklyn and Staten Island against challenger Nicole Malliotakis. When do you think we'll know the results?

Senator Myrie: It's hard to say. I know the board will be counting in earnest this week. Again, I would urge folks to want to get the vote count right, and not done necessarily quickly. I'm hoping that we hear sooner rather than later. The same holds true for a number of State Senate races that we see across the state. There were a lot of reports of the Democratic majority's demise based on the in-person and early votes, but there's still over 1.5 million absentee ballots in the state to be counted. I don't think we should make any sweeping conclusions or come to any determinations until all the votes have been counted.

Brian: Listeners, we could take a few phone calls for State Senator Zellnor Myrie who chairs the Senate Committee on Elections at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280. When we continue in a minute, I want to ask you, and also alert listeners who might be personally affected by this, about what they call ballot curing, because some people who made mistakes on their ballots might get contacted by the Board of Election soon, because they may have the opportunity to correct mistakes. Not, I voted for this candidate and I want to change it, but more technical errors to make sure your vote counts. With some elections still undecided, that's a big deal. Stay with us. We'll talk about that and more with Senator Myrie, and you, right after this.

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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC with New York State Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn who chairs the State Senate Committee on Elections with so much to talk about after so much was new in this election process, and some of it needs to be revisited. After so many mail-in ballots were disqualified in the June primary because of mistakes, New York did pass a law, allowing voters to cure their mail-in ballots.

Some listeners have heard this word for the first time in connection with ballots recently, because this is something that the Trump administration is challenging, and states that are close in the presidential election, giving voters the opportunity to correct something on their ballot after they've been submitted. How would that work in New York State and who should be prepared to still do that?

Senator Myrie: It's a great question, Brian. There's some mistakes that you can't cure and claw back. Booking the Four Seasons Landscaping Company instead of the Four Seasons Hotel is a mistake that you can't cure. As it pertains to your ballot, there's some technical things in our election law statutes that under the old law, would invalidate your ballot, such as you signing in the wrong place, or your signature not exactly matching your signature from 10 years ago when you registered to vote.

This law instructs the local boards of elections, one, to notify you if there is one of these defects. Also, two, to give you the opportunity to cure that technical defect so that your ballot can count. I would urge everyone just to be alert. If you get a contact from the Board of Elections, either by phone, email, or by snail mail, respond, because you do have a short window. It's about five to seven business days depending on when they notify you, to respond. Just be alert and be ready to cure that defect so that your vote can count.

Brian: I will note that it was Zellnor Myrie who made the first Four Seasons Total Landscaping joke on The Brian Lehrer Show. Senator, somebody sent me last night a photoshop image of the outside of the score for Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Only it was Vivaldi's Four Seasons Total Landscaping for violin and piano. Michael in Fort Pierce, Florida. You're on WNYC. Hello, Michael.

Michael: Hello, Brian. Thanks for taking my call. With the recent events during the election with the long lines and so forth and being a computer programmer, I was just baffled. I wonder whether the-- is it Senator? Can explain why it is we seemingly avoid finding a technological solution to the issue of voting in this country.

It seems to me that it should be possible to implement a system that is secure and based on, for example someone is a citizen, they're 18 years old, they are given a voter ID based on maybe their social security number, or at least associated with their social security number, that creates a unique key and then using like we do with banking and so forth, passwords, and secondary and tertiary validation. Why is it that the country, or even local election official aren't looking into something like that?

Senator Myrie: Yes. I think it's a great question. We, here in New York, have certainly been open to bringing our elections into the 21st century. I mentioned one of those changes that we made. I introduced a bill for electronic poll books that would allow for the process to move faster. That is something that has been, I call the unsung MVP of early voting, because it allowed for the check-in process to be, I think, a lot more swift.

As it pertains to incorporating more technological advances for purposes of a more smooth election process, that's a conversation I'm open to having, I think we should also be mindful of the vendor process, who gets those contracts for which technology. We also have to be concerned about cybersecurity, but these are all things that are incorporated into things in our daily lives, as you mentioned, like banking, so we should certainly be looking at how we can do that in the elections context, but we have to be very careful because this is our democracy. It's what holds this republic together, despite attempts at doing otherwise, but it's a conversation I'm willing to have.

Brian: Laurie on the upper West side, you're on WNYC with State Senator Myrie. Hi, Laurie.

Laurie: Hi, I wanted to mention that I was incredibly impressed with the tracking system that was put in place to track my ballot online. One thing that happened was that when I mailed my ballot back, it immediately said the post office understood that the ballot had been mailed. My wife never mailed her ballot back, and yet she got the same confirmation from the post office that they had received her ballot. That's a problem with the tracking system.

Brian: Senator, first you heard of something like that?

Senator Myrie: Yes. This is the first I've heard of that particular issue, but I'm not surprised. I think that there are many places in which we can improve this tracking system. I made a point to thank the the workers at the boards of elections, and the folks in management who have tried to manage these elections in really an unprecedented climate, and having to do that on the fly, learning to build a plane as you're flying it is something that's not easy. I think that anyone could admit that there are areas of improvements. I believe Laurie, this particular mishap is something that we should be looking at going forward. I'd be happy to chat offline as well to see if there's anything specifically we could do.

Brian: If you want Laurie, we could take your contact information off the air and put you in touch with the senator's office, we could do that. Rudy Giuliani just called, and he said that story is enough to disqualify the entire presidential election in Pennsylvania. Kidding. It's hard to tell when people are kidding these days, considering the things that are real. Well, we're going to take one more and we're going to give you the opportunity to have a very brief conversation with one of your colleagues, it looks like because Assemblyman Robert Carroll from Brooklyn is calling in. Assemblyman Carroll, you're on with Senator Myrie and we've got about a minute and a half left in this show so make it brief. Hi.

Assemblyman Robert Carroll: Fantastic. Thank you, Brian. Good afternoon, Zellnor. I wanted to just talk a little bit about and unpack, because I think you and I both agree that we could be bolder, that one of the problems we've had with reforming our election laws in New York State is that they are so Byzantine and harken back to the 19th century in Tammany Hall, that the way we count and canvas mail-in ballots is again, a throwback, and that we should look to Colorado, we should look to Ohio, we should look to Florida that count in canvas their ballots on election day that are mailed in.

If somebody for some reason wanted, after they request an absentee ballot, wanted to go vote in-person, they would have to vote on an affidavit because it's--

Brian: Assemblyman forgive me, but the show's about to end, so I got to jump in there, but I think we get your main point. Senator Myrie, you'll get the last word and I'll note too, which we haven't mentioned yet in this segment, that one thing that's still at stake is whether you all in the State Senate have so many Democrats, that you have a super majority, meaning Cuomo couldn't veto anything, and that's still outstanding because you don't have the votes yet.

Senator Myrie: That's right. I thank my colleague, Assembly Member Carroll for his input in, and again we will certainly be having a lively discussion around all of these reforms. I think it's worthy and hopefully can move something forward. Our super majority or majority is yet to be determined as you mentioned, Brian. I'm confident that when the votes are counted that the picture is going to look a little differently than how it looks now. Regardless of the numbers, I think our majority has demonstrated that we prioritize voting and making it as easy as possible for those of us who are eligible here in the state of New York.

We're going to continue to do that. I've introduced a local John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York that would put in some extra protections and protect us from what the Supreme Court did in 2013. I think we have more to do to make our ballots accessible to those who speak another language than English. I think we have a lot more to do to empower communities of color in the voting process. That's going to be a number one priority for me. I'm excited about the energy around elections. I don't think I've had the opportunity to talk about--

Brian: We have to leave it. I apologize. With State Senator Zellnor Myrie of Brooklyn, chair of the Elections Committee. Thank you so much for coming on today.

Senator Myrie: Thanks for having me, Brian.

 

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