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New York State lawmakers are planning to enact sweeping changes to the state's antiquated voting laws, including establishing early voting and closing an LLC loophole that allows corporations to donate unlimited amounts of money to candidates.
The package of bills was expected to pass the Assembly and Senate on Monday in what would be one of the first orders of business for the new Democratic majorities.
The reforms include adding nine days of early voting before the November election, including time to vote on the weekend.
Lawmakers will vote to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote. They'll also allow voters who change their address within the state to have their registration automatically change as well.
In addition, they want to consolidate the state's federal and state primaries into one primary day.
Lawmakers will also vote to close a loophole that allows groups to skirt state contribution limits by creating an LLC, which are hard to track and allow unlimited donations to campaigns.
Governor Andrew Cuomo supports the legislation and is expected to sign it. The changes would take effect immediately. He also supports declaring Election Day a state holiday.
Other bills call for the creation of same-day voter registration, as well as changes that would make it easier to vote by mail. However, those are Constitutional changes and would require a voter referendum.
