Press Release from the League of Women Voters of New York State

For the last two years, Governor Cuomo has included ethics, campaign finance, and voting reform proposals in his State of the State address. Once again the Governor has laid out these reforms, but this year he didn’t spend nearly as much time or effort touting the proposals. Instead, his ethics proposal was limited to a single proposal, banning outside income for state legislators. He spent less than a minute total discussing his remaining reforms. The Governor has proposed closing the LLC loophole, instituting public financing for state legislators, early voting, no-excuse absentee voting, same day registration, and automatic voter registration. The League is supportive of all these reforms but we fear that the Governor’s quick, one minute coverage of the proposals may be a sign that he is reluctant to use his political muscle to pass these initiatives. We continue to push for funding in the state budget for early voting and automatic voter registration and we hope that the Governor will finally recognize the importance of this funding. We believe that this year the public is demanding ethics and voting reforms and we hope that, even with the brief mention of these proposals today, Governor Cuomo is truly committed to securing passage of these proposals. 

Contact: Jennifer Wilson, 518-465-4162