Voting Reform Among Top Legislative Priorities for NY Lawyer Groups (New York Law Journal)
New York Law Journal, January 7, 2019
Voting Reform Among Top Legislative Priorities for NY Lawyer Groups
“The New York State Bar Association and New York City Bar Association plan to make voting reforms, like early voting and same-day registration, among their top priorities on which to lobby state lawmakers during this year’s legislative session. That’s one of several legislative priorities both groups outlined to the New York Law Journal ahead of the start of this year’s session, which begins Wednesday. It’s also the one legislative issue both groups share on their respective wish lists, though they do have similar positions on other issues, like civil legal services. New York City Bar Association president Roger Juan Maldonado said voting reform stuck with his members as a way to improve the state’s government for their clients. ‘The City Bar has long tried to focus on issues that are important to the persons we seek to represent, our clients,’ Maldonado said. ‘Our clients, in order to have meaningful access to government and justice, need to be able, among other things, to have a meaningful voting process take place.’ Voting reform, to the City Bar, is a combination of several different proposals that would largely overhaul the state’s election system and open voting opportunities for people who may currently feel disenfranchised.”
