New York Senate Dems roll out voting reform package

In their first move of the legislative session, state Senate Democrats have again decided to start the year with a focus on election reforms and voting rights. But state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins also reiterated that her chamber is committed to approving a package on housing with tenant protections before the end of the year.

“We are continuing our first day of session tradition of passing a voting reform package that will allow New Yorkers to vote more easily going forward,” Stewart-Cousins said on Monday. “I'm proud of this tradition.” State Senate Democrats celebrated their first year in the majority in 2019 by approving long-stalled updates to the state’s archaic election laws. They have continued in ensuing years to kick off the legislative session with a package on voting and election reforms. “If it’s early January and it’s Monday, the Senate is doing democracy,” state Senate Elections Committee Chair Zellnor Myrie joked.

None of the bills state Senate Democrats are approving on Monday are new – in fact, some of the bills were part of last year’s early-session democracy package. Others passed later in the year in 2023, but all the bills on the agenda died in the Assembly last year. “We obviously are persistent, so we will continue to make the case that this enhances our democracy and work to get our bills over the line,” Stewart-Cousins said.

Lawmakers in the state Senate will approve a total of nine pieces of legislation on Monday. The package of bills includes measures to allow boards of elections to establish absentee ballot drop-off locations, reduce the influence of foreign interests on elections in the state and permit poll workers to distribute food and water to voters waiting on long lines. 

State lawmakers are starting a new session after they recently faced backlash from good government groups for approving legislation that would have changed the state’s new campaign finance system. Critics said the state Democrats’ proposal would have decreased the influence of small donors and protected establishment candidates. The governor vetoed that bill late last year.

Election reforms are not the only repeat from last year. Stewart-Cousins reiterated that her chamber plans to approve housing measures after the issue dominated last year’s legislative session with little to show for it. “We’re focused on making affordable housing, we’re focused on making sure that tenants have protections – that hasn’t changed,” Stewart-Cousins told reporters. Lawmakers spoke about passing their own package of housing bills last year after failing to find a compromise with Gov. Kathy Hochul on her own housing plan, but it never materialized. 

This year, Hochul has offered few details on what her new housing plan will look like, although she’s expected to drop controversial building mandates that served as the crux of her proposal last year. Stewart-Cousins said she hopes to “get to a good place” on housing discussions with the governor, but didn’t seem to rule out taking independent action. “We had several discussions, and I think we could see a path forward in terms of our legislation,” she said.