Local city, town and village clerks may have a role to play in November’s election.

Sen. Rachel May, D-Syracuse, has sponsored S.8918B with Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-New York City, signing on as a co-sponsor of the bill.

May’s legislation would amend the state Election Law to allow Board of Election to establish a way to collect absentee ballots using local municipal clerks. If passed, the state Board of Elections would be given power to develop rules and regulations for the clerks to use, including the location of absentee ballot drop-off locations, chain of custody, pick-up times, labeling and ballot security.

The election law would also be changed to allow absentee ballots received by the clerks before the polls close on Election Day to be counted.

“The 2020 public health emergency creates serious questions about the safety of in-person voting on Nov. 3, leading to greater interest in options like early voting and absentee ballots,” May wrote in her legislative justification. “The expected surge of votes cast absentee may also create difficulty for a beleaguered postal service.

This legislation proposes one simple solution: allow county boards of elections to work with county, city, town, and village clerks to accept absentee ballots through Election Day. These local officials are already accustomed to handling sensitive documents and have the capacity to certify the day and time that ballots are collected. Most importantly, they are broadly distributed throughout our communities, making it very easy for a voter to drop their ballot off at their town or village clerk. By doing so, New York can alleviate the threat of an election delayed by a sabotaged postal service.”

It isn’t known if the state Legislature will return for another session, which means May’s legislation could possibly only be implemented through an executive order. State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, recently sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking the governor not to make any last-minute changes to voting procedures in the wake of legislative hearings during which local elections officials said last-minute changes created an unworkable system.

In response to concerns over COVID-19 risks at polling places, Cuomo issued an Executive Order on April 8 allowing all eligible New Yorkers to vote by absentee ballot for the June 23 primary. Two weeks later, he followed that with another Executive Order mandating that the Boards of Elections automatically mail every eligible voter a postage-paid application for an absentee ballot.

“As we look ahead to the general election on Nov. 3 and the exponentially higher turnout of presidential election years, there is great concern that the voting process in New York could be even more chaotic than the primary if there is an attempt to enact eleventh-hour changes to the process,” Borrello said. “All of the election professionals that testified, without exception, stated that there simply isn’t enough time to successfully implement broad directives such as mailing all eligible voters absentee ballot applications. Even if the state had extra funds to accompany any such initiatives – which it doesn’t – our election infrastructure can’t be changed before November 3rd. In April, New York state was still experiencing very difficult days and high infection rates in many areas. The governor’s actions were understandable given the situation at that time. Thankfully, things have changed drastically since then. We’ve gone from having the highest infection rate in the nation to one of the lowest. The emergency actions that were taken in April don’t merit repeating, particularly in light of the calamity surrounding the primaries.”

He added that with benefits such as early voting, the majority of New Yorkers should be able to vote in person safely over the 10-day period by exercising the same safety precautions they take in the course of their daily routines.