Anyone who wants to vote by absentee ballot could be allowed to do so in the November election.

A.10833 and S.8015, which would allow any registered voter to request an absentee ballot for any election through 2022, passed the Assembly 118-23 and the state Senate 42-18 last week. Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, and state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, both voted against the bill. Assemblyman Joe Giglio, R-Gowanda, voted in favor.

The legislation amends the state Election Law to include within the definition of “illness” instances where a voter who is unable to appear personally at a polling place to cast their vote because there is a risk of contracting or spreading a disease-causing illness to the voter or to other members of the public.

Goodell opposed the legislation based on language in the state Constitution that stipulates an absentee ballot is to be used for those who can’t go to their polling place because of illness.

“That’s constitutional language. What this bills says is you can be perfectly healthy but we’ll consider you ill if you’re worried about becoming sick,” Goodell said. “This bill doesn’t require that the individual seeking this exception in order to vote by absentee ballot have a medical basis. There is no requirement that they be an individual who might be at high risk, such as someone who might be elderly or have other compromising conditions. This is not limited to COVID or a pandemic. It’s not even limited to this year. It goes on to 2022. There are people who are legitimately concerned about going out in public because of COVID and if this bill was limited to people who are deemed at high risk during a pandemic it would have my support.”

In addition to illness, New York’s law currently allows an individual to request an absentee ballot if they will be absent from their county of residence or New York City on the day of the election, are unable to appear at the polling place due to physical disability or care-taking responsibilities for someone who is ill or disabled, are a resident or patient at a veteran health administration hospital, or are currently being held in jail.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, D-Bronx, said the state should be prepared for a resurgence of COVID-19 as has happened in Florida. He said it is prudent to have the legislation in effect through 2022 in case a COVID-19 vaccine isn’t ready in time for a slew of local elections coming in the next two years. I just wanted to add some of the points that were raised. Dinowitz also responded to Goodell’s constitutional argument by saying that the constitution isn’t clear about who needs to be ill to qualify for an absentee ballot.

“Mr. Goodell did read from the constitution,” Dinowitz said. “I assume he read it word for word. Frankly it said the word illness. It didn’t talk about whose illness, it said illness. Illness is a very general term meaning the voter’s illness. It could mean anybody else’s illness. I think voters have the right to go vote without being scared to go outside of their house. There are many people, particularly elderly people, who didn’t want to go out and may not want to go out. It’s our job to make sure our democracy continues and one way to continue is giving people the option during this crisis of voting by mail.”

Assemblyman Michael Blake, D-Bronx, said the situation in New York City is such that voters could be legitimately afraid to vote. He shared the story of Ezekiel Cousins, a friend who expressed concerns about working at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic who later contracted the virus and died. Blake also told the story of an elderly woman he met while knocking on doors in his district earlier this year who requested an absentee ballot but waited weeks for it to arrive. Blake ended up driving her to the polls himself because the ballot never arrived.

“I want to be very clear,” Blake said. “Do we need to make sure that everyone should have the availability to vote absentee by mail? Absolutely. We also have to make sure that we have a scenario and a true tracking system also in place so that if you choose to vote by mail you can actually know your ballot will arrive to you on time. We have the same responsibility you would have if you were purchasing a package to come in the mail, that same responsibility would happen when it comes to your ballots arriving in the mail. We should absolutely ensure, Mr. Speaker and colleagues, that we don’t have any scenarios where the envelop does not clearly explain when changes occur.”

Blake was referring to confusion during this year’s primary election over conflicting dates that led to thousands of ballots being declared invalid while some voters didn’t vote because they thought they had missed the postmark deadline.

Two other election-related bills were passed during the session and sent to Cuomo for his approval.

A.10807/S.8783A passed the Assembly 141-1 and the Senate 41-19. Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, was among the 19 nay votes. Current law states that an absentee ballot may be requested by a communication received by a county Elections Board no sooner than 30 days before the date on which the election is to be held. During this year’s primary elections, New York City and many counties had a significant backlog of requested ballots. Many more absentee ballots were sought this year due to public concern and the restrictions on public activities, in place in response to the COVID-19 virus. The legislation sent to Cuomo would remove the 30-day provision through the end of 2020, so that applications for ballots may be received sooner and more ballot requests can be efficiently processed.

A.10830/S8370B passed the Assembly 103-38, with Goodell and Giglio in opposition while passing the state Senate 40-20 with Borrello in opposition. The legislation requires that Board of Elections determine when canvassing ballots that an absentee ballot affirmation envelope is unsigned or does not correspond to the registration signature or there is no required witness to mark or that the envelope is returned without an affirmation envelope in the return envelope. Elections boards would be given a day to send to the absentee voter’s address indicated in the registration records, or if different the mailing address indicated on the absentee ballot application, a notice explaining the reason for a ballot’s rejection and the procedure to cure the rejection.

Voters can file a duly signed affirmation attesting to the same information required by the affirmation envelope. The Elections Board will include a form of affirmation with the notice to the voter. That new affirmation would be required to be returned no later than seven business days after the board mails the rejection notice. If the Board of Elections is split whether or not the defective ballot is cured, then the envelope will be set aside for three days and canvassed unless the board is directed otherwise by court order.When an elections board invalidates a ballot envelope the voter must be notified within three business days by mail.