Adjunct Professor Jerry Goldfeder wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Law Journal about voting reforms.
As the outgoing chair of the New York City Affairs Committee of the New York City Bar Association, I recently testified at the City Council’s Charter Revision Commission, proposing that it adopt our “Democracy Agenda”—mandating early voting, enhanced registration and enrollment opportunities, no-excuse absentee voting and instant run-off for our municipal elections. Without having to wait any longer for Albany to enact these reforms, the city should exercise its state constitutional and statutory authority to do so on its own. That is how we achieved the finest campaign finance law in the nation, term limits, non-partisan vacancy elections and more liberalized ballot access requirements.
As the Charter Commission meets throughout the next year to consider various ways to improve city government, the bar has the opportunity to play an active role in supporting voting and other reforms.