Want to Vote Next Year, New York? Act Now!

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/opinion/new-york-voter-registration.html

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The impresario Sol Hurok and the philosopher Yogi Berra expounded similarly on human behavior and public events: If people don’t want to come, nothing can stop them. Their wry wisdom certainly applies to New York City voters. Nothing has stopped them from not showing up at the polls.

The turnout in the 2013 mayoral election was 26 percent of registered voters, and that was stellar compared with the abysmal 14 percent in last month’s primaries. There’s every reason to assume that on Election Day, Nov. 7, New Yorkers will not exercise the franchise any more aerobically than they did four years ago.

Many reasons explain the apathy, not the least of them being a lack of excitement about most races, but New York State effectively suppresses the turnout by making it harder to vote than is the practice in other jurisdictions. It’s one of the few states that doesn’t allow early voting. It doesn’t permit voter registration on Election Day, as a dozen other places do. Its provisions for absentee voting are antiquated, with no email requests for a ballot allowed.

One New York limitation that borders on the absurd comes with a fast-approaching deadline. Registered voters who wish to switch parties, or identify for the first time with any party, have to do so by this Friday, Oct. 13. That’s for the 2018 primaries. Perhaps that deserves repeating. It’s for 2018.

Here’s how state law works. If you’re registering to vote for the first time, you have until 25 days before a general election to act. But if you’re already registered and want to change party enrollment — or are an independent who wants, say, to become a Republican or a Democrat — you must do so one year and 25 days before the election. Since New York has closed primaries, which restrict voting to those enrolled in a given party, it means voters will have to decide this week which races may draw their interest eight months or more from now. Even among other states with closed primaries, none force their citizens to figure such things out so far ahead of time.

New York lawmakers have resisted efforts to bring their rules more in line with practices elsewhere. They argue that the goal is to forestall “party raiding” — mischief-making by voters who switch allegiances only to disrupt the opposition. Even if that is a legitimate concern, it doesn’t explain why the deadline for shifting party enrollment has to be so early. It smacks of self-interest — yet another instance when “party politics trumps the public interest,” says Blair Horner, executive director of the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Last year, during his presidential run, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio was asked in a television interview to explain why his state had reduced the number of weeks for early voting. “I do not know why you are picking on Ohio,” he replied. “Why don’t you go pick on New York?” Fair question.