VOTING AND ELECTION REFORM
The Huddle works to improve New York and federal election laws to enfranchise voters and make voting easier and more secure.
To choose what legislation and actions to take, the Huddle follows the lead of several voting rights and election reform organizations. As part of the Let NY Vote coalition we work on its legislative priorities.
For detailed information about specific bills, go to the Huddle's 2025 Legislation Tracker.
What passed during
2025 NY legislative session
It was not a good session for moving forward with election reform in New York. In particular, many priority bills and bills in the Senate Democratic Majority Package were not even considered by the Assembly Election Law Committee, the first step in going to the floor for a vote.
Bills introduced in 2025 do not have to be re-introduced; in other words, we don't have to start over. That means that the list of priority bills will continue into 2026.
Three bills passed and, as of 7/28, are pending the governor's signature
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Joining Multi-State Voter List Maintenance Organization (ERIC bill) (Let NY Vote and Dem Majority priority bill)
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Split shifts for election inspectors or poll clerks (Let NY Vote priority bill)
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Paid for by Language: political committees have to add "paid for by" language (Dem Majority priority bill)
Yes, that's all that passed out of a multitude of bills. That's three bills that passed both houses and 9 bills passed by the Senate that were not voted on by the Assembly.
Let NY Vote 2025 Priority Legislation
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Voter Challenge Protection, which requires persons that challenge the validity of voter applicants to provide their identification information and written documentation on the challenge (no Senate bill/A4095).
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Require better notice to voters who are purged or put on inactive status (S4364/A6764)
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Have NY join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), an interstate data sharing organization to help keep voter rolls clean (S1356/A3649)
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Student Voter Empowerment Act that expands civic engagement practices for students (S2056/A3954)
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Democracy During Detention Act, which establishes the election infrastructure that makes voting accessible for all those eligible to vote who are detained in jails (S6875/A9612)
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Ensuring the use of paper ballots, including VIVA (S6169A/A5934A) and Protect Our Ballots Act (no Senate bill/A2606)
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Board of Elections reform (10 bills)
Voting Systems
There are good voting systems and bad ones.
The ES&S ExpressVote XL is a bad one.
Please read our position paper: Opposition of the Bethlehem Huddle to the ExpressVote XL (PDF).
Currently, Albany and Schenectady Counties use aging voting system from ES&S. This has served voters well, but it is time to replace this voting system. We are happy to report that both county Boards of Elections have decided, for practical reasons, to continue using paper ballots!
The Huddle will continue to monitor the use of voting systems around the state as well as a legal case that is attempting to rescind the state BOE's certification of the ExpressVote XL.