NYS Senate Democrats expected to pass election bills

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)- New York State Senate Democrats are planning to pass election legislation on Monday as their first official order of business this session.

It’s become somewhat of a tradition, after Democrats became the majority party in 2019.

"We take great pride in the fact that we have made it easier for people to vote in New York State," said Senator Michael Gianaris.

Senator Gianaris, who serves as the Senate Deputy Leader, is expected to have one of his election bills included in the legislative package.

"About 2 million people in the state who are eligible to vote and are not registered to vote. That’s a lot of people to be losing their electoral franchise," explained the Senator. "With an automatic registration system, anytime you interact with the DMV or Medicaid or Medicare agencies that have your citizenship already as a part of their application process, they will transmit that information out to the Board of Elections for you to be registered automatically and you wouldn’t have to worry about that extra hurdle if you choose to vote."

This bill builds off an automatic voter registration law that is set to take effect in a couple of months.

On the Republican side, Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortt, has an election bill which would require voter identification. 

"I have a bill that would give them an ID, paid for by the state, to provide them an ID so there is no reason anyone can say I don’t have ID," said Ortt. "Perfect, we’ll make sure you do for the express purposes of voting to make voting easy to vote in New York, but also protect the integrity of the elections in New York."

Senator Ortt would like to see his bill passed before the end of the legislative session.