New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed new voting reforms into law. Now New York will allow eight days of early voting, voter preregistration for teenagers, and will make federal and state primary elections happen on the same day.
Cuomo said New York will continue to move forward with reforms despite what Cuomo said is a nationwide regression.
“I believe the federal government has purposefully disenfranchised voters. I think there has been an attempt in this country, all across this country, to make voting difficult for people they don’t want to vote because they don’t want their vote to count. It’s not just about what New York does for New Yorkers. It’s what New York does in this moment in history where we have a federal government that is hell-bent on rolling back individual rights, civil liberties, that we believe are essential here in the state of New York.”
Cuomo hopes that by passing these laws it will set a trend across the rest of the country. Next for New York? Cuomo suggested the state will begin to move towards online voter registration.