March 22, 2018 - Westchester County Executive George Latimer was joined by Port Chester Mayor Fritz Falanka, County Legislator Nancy Barr and Port Chester residents at the Don Bosco Community Center to outline the importance of securing funding for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s early voting initiative in this year’s State Budget.
The plan requires every county to offer residents access to at least one early voting poll site during the 12 days leading up to Election Day. Voters will have at least eight hours on weekdays, and five hours on weekends, to cast early ballots. Counties must have one early voting poll site for every 50,000 residents and the bipartisan County Boards of Elections will determine the specific location of early voting polling places, subject to standards of accessibility and convenience.
Latimer said: “Early voting is in place in 37 states – as well as the District of Columbia. This is not just an experiment that the State is trying, New York is lagging behind nearly 2/3 of the Country. Early voting enables voters who due to work schedules, emergencies or mobility issues have difficulty voting on a singular Election Day, find a convenient time to vote. The mission is to have as many people who are eligible to vote to do so. We want to ensure that the people who are selected for public office are done so by the broadest possible pool.”
The petition signing was symbolically held in Port Chester because the Village has been home to early voting for nearly a decade – the only municipality in New York State where it is practiced.
Early voting is popular with voters across all political parties, both Democratic- and Republican-leaning states have already done it, with Texas being the first. Early voting also helps to avoid issues that can result from extreme weather events, such as Hurricanes or Winter Storms, that may occur close to Election Day.
To sign the petition in support of early voting click HERE.
The full petition signing event can be viewed HERE.