A recent ruling by New York’s highest court upholds any voter’s right to cast a ballot by mail. The 6 to 1 Court of Appeals decision affirmed lower court rulings that the Early Mail Voter Act doesn’t violate the state constitution, which does not specifically mention an in-person voting requirement. Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny says voters used the option earlier this year, and it worked well.
“We had early vote by mail in the presidential and June primary and in the village elections in the spring," Czarny said. "So early vote by mail is the law of the land. It remains the law of the land and we are processing a ton of applications for the presidential election already.”
But Republican Commissioner Michele Sardo says it doesn't come without some complications.
“It's confusing to people, especially ones that want to be permanent voters," Sardo said. "They want to keep their permanent status, but now they're receiving these early mail ballot applications. And they're calling our office asking if they're still permanent. It just makes a lot more work in our office.”
Voters who apply for early vote by mail must do so every calendar year, whereas permanent status is granted to absentee and military voters.
Republican Congressmember Elise Stefanik filed the lawsuit, partly based on the false claims that mail-in ballots lead to voter fraud. GOP Commissioner Sardo says their system has many safeguards in place.
“We compare signatures. We compare addresses, dates of birth, we compare everything," Sardo said.
Democratic commissioner Czarny says they can detect tampering with ballot envelopes and other questionable activity.
“If there is any deficiency, whether intentional, or most often unintentional, we have a cure process that notifies the voters of the deficiency in their ballot and gives them a chance to contact us to correct it. Or, if they didn't request the ballots and let us know about that.”
Czarny says it’s quite easy to catch those who purposely commit voter fraud, and the penalties are quite severe.
More information on early mail-in voting, absentee ballots, and more can be found here.
