In the final days of New York’s legislative session this June, the Let New York Vote coalition asked Albany to pass a package of six voting rights bills before lawmakers went home. Sawi, the coalition’s coordinator, wrote in the New York Daily News on June 4 that voting protections “once thought settled are increasingly vulnerable.”
The coalition cited Louisiana v. Callais, in which the U.S. Supreme Court allowed continued legal challenges to majority-Black congressional districts despite protections under the federal Voting Rights Act. The coalition argued that safeguards New Yorkers assumed were permanent are back in play, and Albany should shore up its own before the session closed.
New York already has one of the strongest state-level voting laws in the country in the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York. The coalition argued that a strong law is not a finished one, and that protections have to be “continuously defended, modernized, and strengthened as new challenges emerge.”
The first bill, S5751/A2162, sponsored by Sen. Mike Gianaris and Assemblyman Robert Carroll, would amend the state Constitution to scrap New York’s rule requiring voters to register at least 10 days before an election, clearing the way for same-day registration. Because it changes the Constitution, it cannot become law on a single vote.
The Democracy During Detention Act, S440/A2121 from Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Latrice Walker, would expand election infrastructure so that eligible voters held in local jails, people who are detained but have not lost the right to vote, can cast a ballot.
The Student Voter Empowerment Act, S2056A/A3954A from Sen. Lea Webb and Assemblyman Steven Raga, aims to boost civic engagement and turnout among college students.
S4602A/A5846A, from Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblyman Eddie Gibbs, would require polling hours to be extended when a disruption or emergency blocks meaningful access for more than 15 minutes. S3233A/A6354, from Sen. Brian Kavanagh and Walker, would require anyone challenging a voter’s eligibility to file a formal affidavit. The coalition calls this a guard against frivolous challenges and improper voter purges.
The last, the Voting Integrity and Verification Act of New York, S7116/A6287 from Sen. Cordell Cleare and Assemblyman Brian Cunningham, would improve access to paper ballots and strengthen the processes used to verify election results.
The coalition called the package nonpartisan. “These proposals do not create partisan advantage for one party,” Sawi wrote. “They are commonsense safeguards to protect every eligible voter and reinforce public trust in the democratic process.”
The New York Attorney General’s office defines voter suppression as laws and practices that make voting harder, including a lack of poll sites in communities of color, and separately defines voter intimidation, deception and obstruction. That office also notes that as of June 20, 2025, any New York locality with enough voting-age citizens who do not speak English well enough to participate must provide language assistance, such as translated ballots.
Let New York Vote says it has spent seven years pushing voting reform in the state and has won more than a dozen changes over that stretch, which it describes as the first major voting rights reforms in New York in over a century. The coalition’s case for the 2026 package, along with the full slate of its priorities, is posted at letnyvote.org.
Featured image: Bushwick Daily
