Hochul greenlights NY's mail-in voting law. GOP sues right away to undo it

A partisan clash over voting access flared on Wednesday as Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill to make New York the 36th state to allow mail-in voting and Republicans immediately sued to block it.

The legislation, passed by the Democratic-led legislature earlier this year, gives all voters the option to cast ballots by mail if they request them before early voting starts 10 days before an election. It applies to every election, from school board contests to presidential races, and takes effect next year unless derailed by the lawsuit.

Hochul, who held a ceremony in Manhattan on Wednesday to sign a string of election-related bills, touted the addition of mail-in voting as an overdue reform that will increase voter participation and strengthen democracy.

"I wish we could say we're the first," she said. "We're not, because of all kinds of reasons. But today we're going to right the wrong of the past and say it's finally time that people can vote by mail. We saw it work during the pandemic. We can do this."

Republicans, who staunchly oppose mail-in voting, already had a court challenge ready. They filed it in state Supreme Court in Albany right after the bill signing, with four Congress members from New York, the state Republican Party and the National Republican Committee among the plaintiffs.

“Kathy Hochul and extreme New York Democrats are trying to destroy what is left of election integrity in New York," Rep. Elise Stefanik, the lead plaintiff and leader of the House Republican conference, said later in a statement. "Under Kathy Hochul's failed leadership, elections are less secure and less transparent and will now be unconstitutional."

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What are the arguments for, against mail-in voting in NY?

Republicans argue the state constitution requires voters to cast ballots in person unless they get an absentee ballot, which they can only do for certain reasons, such as illness or being away from home for an election. Mail-in voting skirts those constraints, they say.

In addition, GOP opponents claim the practice will facilitate fraudulent voting, and point out that New York voters defeated a constitutional amendment in 2021 that would have allowed absentee voting for any reason.

"The people of New York resoundingly rejected this attempt to weaken the integrity of our election process, and I am confident it will once again be rejected by the courts," state Sen. Rob Ortt, the Republican minority leader, said in a statement.

Democrats argue their mail-in voting system is separate from absentee ballots and complies with the constitution. They reject the GOP's fraud warnings as baseless, saying no such problems have occurred in the many states that allow mail-in voting.

Democrats also contend that Republicans are fighting mail-in voting because greater participation in elections costs them races.

"The only reason why people would oppose it is because they don't want you all to vote," state Sen. Mike Gianaris, the deputy majority leader, said at Wednesday's bill signing. "And that should tell you all you need to know about people who would spend their resources and their time opposing not just that bill, but all the ones that are up here today. It will be opposed by people who oppose democracy."

A likely reason for national Republican interest in the law: the looming battles in 2024 for seven toss-up House seats in New York that will help determine which party controls the chamber.

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How did mail-in voting work in NY during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Mail-in voting got a test run in New York during the pandemic, when restrictions on obtaining absentee ballots were loosened due to the health threat. For three years, all voters were allowed to invoke "illness" to request a ballot, and absentee voting surged.

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That accommodation began with the June 2020 primary through an executive order by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and was extended through laws until the end of 2022. The customary restrictions on absentee ballots resumed this year.

What do other states do?

Voting by mail has grown in the U.S. since the pandemic's outset. Eight states automatically send voters mail-in ballots as Oregon has done for 23 years, longer than any other, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Another 27 states and Washington, D.C., let voters request absentee ballots for any reason, a system known as no-excuse absentee voting.

New York is one of 15 states that limits absentee voting by prescribing reasons to obtain a ballot.

Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY mail-in voting greenlit. What could it mean for 2024 elections?