County Task Force on the Election Issues its Report

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August 18, 2020

By Barrett Seaman—

After hours of Zoom-conducted hearings with witnesses ranging from the two County Election Commissioners to political activists and voting experts, the Legislative Task Force formed in July to examine what went wrong with the June 23^rd primary has issued a 21-page report of its findings. Among its key recommendations:

Expanded early voting hours
A multimedia campaign to encourage early voting
Multi-lingual video instructions for how to vote absentee ballot
Procedural changes to work shifts to increase the number of available poll workers
Installation of drop boxes for returning absentee ballots
Investments in equipment including equipment to better handle mailed ballots
Information-sharing partnerships with community organizations

The County Board of Legislators has no executive authority over the Board of Elections, but it does control its budget. Some desired reforms—like expanding the number of day in which early voting can take place–can be fulfilled only by the State Legislature on Albany. But expanding the hours polls are open within the allotted nine day period, can be implemented locally.

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The Task Force was created by Board Chairman Ben Boykin and was co-chaired by Legislators Catherine Borgia and Vedat Gashi. The other Task Force members are Vice Chair Alfreda Williams and Majority Leader MaryJane Shimsky. It gathered information from more than 100 public comments and BOL committee meetings with voter advocates and the Westchester County Board of Elections Commissioners.

For the full report, go to: https://westchesterlegislators.com/images/Newsroom/2020/eigtf-final-report.pdf.

For a discussion of the election situation in Westchester, and the prospects for improvements in advance of November’s General Election, with League of Women Voters of Westchester president Kathy Meany, go to :https://thehudsonindependent.com/indy-talks-with-the-league-of-women-voters-ep-20-july-2020/

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