Unfortunately, New York has been suffering with very poor voting laws and has fallen behind other states in terms of voting reform. However, we are one step closer of that being a thing of the past! On January 14th, a series of bills were passed by the New York State Legislature that would make voting easier for every New York citizen. The bills include:

• Early voting (up to 10 days before Election Day)
• Pre-registration of 16 and 17 year-olds
• Same day registration
• Same day federal and state primaries
• Portable voter registration (allows voters who move within the same state to transfer their registration and vote on Election Day at their new poll site)
• No excuse absentee voting (allows voters to request an absentee ballot without requiring that the voter state a reason)

As a result of these bills, long lines and crowding at polling sites will hopefully decrease which could help increase voter turnout.