Expecting ‘unprecedented’ voter turnout, Brooklyn pol wants more early voting
New York State should open more polling sites for early voting when the presidential election rolls around next year, according to a Brooklyn lawmaker who said he will work on giving voters easier access to the ballot box.
State Sen. Zellnor Myrie, chairperson of the Senate’s Elections Committee, said the state expects an “unprecedented turnout” for the presidential election in 2020.
Myrie, a freshman Democrat representing Crown Heights and parts of Brownsville, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Park Slope and Sunset Park, held a joint hearing on Nov. 20 with Assemblymember Charles Lavine, chairperson of the Assembly Elections Committee, to look at the inaugural early voting process and discuss ways to improve the system.
Several witnesses at the hearing stated that a good way to make the system work better would be to open up additional polling sites for early voting, according to Myrie, who was the original sponsor of the bill to create early voting in New York State. The measure was approved by the state legislature earlier this year.