New York to provide absentee ballots to all state voters
Photo/Mark Nash
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Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order Friday that will provide absentee ballot applications to all New York state voters.
New York state on March 28 postponed its presidential primary election until June 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Cuomo issued an executive order April 8 giving all voters in the state the option to vote by mail in this year’s primary.
The governor is ordering the New York State Board of Elections to mail absentee ballot applications to every New York voter, he said. Polls will remain open on election day for anyone who wishes to vote in-person, he said.
“It makes no sense to me to tell people you have to put your life at risk, violate social distancing, to come out to vote,” Cuomo said.
The coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected 271,590 and killed 21,091 in New York state as of Friday. Hospitalizations related to COVID-19 have continued to decline in the state, while the rate of cases confirmed each day is now flat, Cuomo said.
The executive order aims to make it easier for New Yorkers to vote absentee if they choose to do so, said Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, at the briefing.
“All we’re doing is making this more convenient so people who don’t have access to internet, don’t wanna leave their homes, are able to get an application directly sent to them with the return postage,” DeRosa said.
The state will release its finance report later this week, Cuomo said. He predicts a 14% decrease in the state revenue, a nearly $13.3 billion shortfall, he said.
New York state will lose a total $61 billion from fiscal years 2021 to 2024 due to the pandemic, Cuomo said.
States should not declare bankruptcy, Cuomo said. The Senate would have to pass a law allowing them to do so, which would be a “dumb idea,” he said.
COVID-19 infection and death rates did not reach the levels that experts had predicted, Cuomo said. Social distancing and nonessential business closures prevented those high numbers, he said.
“We didn’t hit those projections because of our actions,” Cuomo said. “It’s purely dependent on what we do.”
If the state relaxed social distancing measures now, the rate of infection would increase, Cuomo said. The state is now planning for better public health and safety, cleaner public transportation and improved telemedicine.
“You really get to see people and see character when things get hard,” Cuomo said. “And when the pressure is on is when you get to see true colors of a person and see what they’re made of.”