Testimony of Eric Friedman, New York City Campaign Finance Board Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs to the New York City Council Committee on Governmental Operations

02/28/2022

Thank you, Chair Ung and members of the New York City Council Committee on Governmental Operations for the opportunity to testify about agency-based voter registration, also known as Local Law 29 or LL29.

My name is Eric Friedman, and I am the Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs at the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB). With me today is Deputy Director for Public Affairs Amanda Melillo.

Overview of CFB’s Role in LL 29

Agency-based voter registration provides all eligible New Yorkers with the opportunity to register to vote while receiving critical services from City agencies. The work of these City agencies and programs specifically devoted to voter education like the CFB’s NYC Votes initiative, in concert with the passage of major pro-voter laws at the state and federal level, have resulted in a 91% rate of registration for eligible City residents.

The CFB and Voter Assistance Advisory Committee (VAAC), provides best practices guidance on the voter registration process to identified City agency voter coordinators, as required in the law. Annual trainings for voter coordinators are conducted by CFB staff and as of last year have also incorporated explanations of ranked choice voting, as required by Local Law 21 of 2021. In 2021, the CFB conducted seven trainings directed to City agency staff ahead of the primary election, and two trainings in partnership with the Mayor’s office before the general election; representatives from all LL29 agencies were in attendance at these trainings.

CFB staff email agency voter coordinators in advance of key voter registration dates, with suggested social media language and graphics suitable for posting on agency websites. Additionally, beyond what is specifically defined in the law, we provide periodic email updates about other election-related dates, such as the deadline to request an absentee ballot, the start of early voting, and election day itself.

We also work with Department of Correction (DOC) staff to establish guidance for justice-involved individuals and periodically review their pamphlet that is distributed at intake and release from custody. This year we have also joined DOC’s voting rights on Riker’s Island working group and look forward to assisting them in delivering voter registration and absentee ballot information to New Yorkers in DOC facilities.

Other LL29 agencies go above and beyond the scope of the law to provide much needed voter and civics education to youth and students, with programming assistance from the CFB’s youth voter coordinator and partnerships team, such as the Department of Youth and Community Development, Administration for Children’s Services, and the Department of Education.

How Recent Voting Law Changes Impact LL29

LL29 was intended to serve as an expansion of existing federal and state laws that require government agencies to support voter registration. Currently, the State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) provides an online voter registration system that requires a State ID card, however, this leaves out about 10% of City residents over age 16 without such an ID. Any eligible City resident, regardless of whether they have a DMV ID, can register to vote on a paper form at the time they interact with any LL29 agency.

As mentioned in recent Mayor’s Office of Operations reports, there has been a decline in the number of LL29 registration forms during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is consistent with lower voter registration rates overall during COVID, likely caused by the lack of in-person interactions and fewer voter registration events. However, according to City Board of Elections (BOE) annual reports from 2010-2020, agency-based voter registration forms at their peak only made up 6% of total voter registrations.

Several recent pro-voter laws will significantly impact agency-based voter registration. Roll-out of State reforms like automatic voter registration (AVR) and online voter registration (OVR) in 2013 will naturally reduce the reliance on paper voter registration forms, including those offered by LL29 agencies. AVR will automatically register New Yorkers who interact with State agencies and a fully accessible OVR portal will allow all City residents to register online. LL29 agencies may consider shifting their process to confirm the status of a voter’s registration and assist voters in filling out the OVR website forms if necessary. The State OVR portal will likely only provide support in five languages and therefore paper forms will still be vital for limited English proficient communities who speak the designated citywide languages.

In early 2021, the State also restored the right to vote to New Yorkers on parole, who previously required a conditional pardon by the Governor to vote. Restoration of voting rights to individuals on parole provides greater opportunities for Department of Probation and DOC to register more City residents who leave their custody. Overall, these State law changes make the registration process vastly simpler for voters and reduce administrative burdens for agencies

Lastly, the City Council recently expanded municipal voting rights to 825,000 City residents authorized to work in the U.S. Starting in 2023, this group of voters will have their own registration form and process with the City BOE that will not be connected to the systems supported by the State BOE such as OVR. However, they will be likely to seek City services at the same rate, or possibly a higher rate, than those who are currently eligible to vote and are a huge audience for future agency-based voter registration efforts.

Recommendations to Improve LL29

With these major voting changes on the horizon, there is a need to think critically about which city residents are served by agency-based voter registration. There are several important opportunities to expand the scope of the law and to modernize the way voter registration is incorporated into existing LL29 agency processes.

One potential area of improvement is to expand the distribution of paper voter registration forms in additional languages. The City BOE currently provides City agencies with voter registration forms in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Bengali. In 2016, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MOIA), the CFB translated the standard voter registration form into eleven additional languages, including those covered by the designated citywide languages law. However, there is not currently a routine process for City agencies to request these forms, nor for the CFB to distribute these forms.

There is also an opportunity to standardize the service delivery of paper voter registration forms for city-only voters. The CFB plans to work with the City BOE to translate city-only voter registration forms into the same additional languages offered for standard voter registration forms. Named LL29 agencies should also be required veto register this new group of City-only voters.

As mentioned earlier in this testimony, the voter registration rate in New York City is actually quite high at 91%. However, our turnout rate for elections is routinely lower than New York State overall, which regularly ranks in the bottom half of turnout compared to other States.

A final potential area of improvement is to require LL29 agencies to promote and publicize all voting information provided by the CFB, to ensure consistent messaging from a single reliable source. This could include information the CFB is already supplying such as election date reminders and best practices for absentee ballots. For example, agencies who serve populations who are more likely to request an absentee ballot, such as the Department of the Aging or DOC, could be required to assist voters in the process of submitting an absentee ballot request form.

With more and more residents engaging with government agencies virtually, the law could also be modernized to require consistent posting on City agency websites and social media. The current law does not require dissemination of elections information such as election day reminders, though the CFB does include LL29 agency voter coordinators in email outreach. The law also does not require monitoring the distribution of voter information by City subcontractors who are front line service providers at some of these agencies.

While these areas of improvement are specific to the City’s agency-based voter registration law, there are also crucial legislative and policy changes that can be made at the State level, which we routinely advocate for in the CFB and VAAC’s annual Voter Analysis Report and in testimony before the State legislature.

The CFB is grateful for the opportunity to provide testimony on this important city law and how we believe it can be improved to register all eligible New Yorkers. We are happy to answer any questions you might have.