Take Action Every Day Between Now and April 1st:
Tell Albany NY Needs Election Reform Now!
We must show our support for pro-voter election reform priorities and demand that state funding be included to make them a reality this year.
Will you help by making the following 11 phone calls each day between now and April 1st?
(We've included a basic call and email script below. Please call both the Albany and District offices for each (11 calls total), and then follow up with an email)
- 1) This lookup tool gives you contact info for your state Senator and Assemblymember. Call each of them in the Albany and District offices;
- 2) Call and email Governor Andrew Cuomo. Tell him you support his pro-voter budget proposal and want to see it funded and enacted: 518-474-1041 (press 1); email: [email protected];
- 3) Call and email Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Tell him you support the Assembly's pro-voter budget proposal and want to see it funded and enacted: Albany: 518-455-3791; District Office: 718-654-6539; Email: [email protected];
- 4) Call and email State Senate IDC Leader Jeff Klein and insist that he prioritize pro-voter election reform in the state budget due Apr. 1st: Albany: (518) 455-3595; District Office: (718) 822-2049 Email: [email protected];
- 5) Call and email GOP State Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and insist that he prioritize pro-voter election reform in the state budget: Albany: (518) 455-2071; District Office: (631) 361-2154 Email: [email protected]
Phone Script
(for calls to lawmakers and leaving messages)
Hello, My name is __________. I am a New York voter and your constituent.
I am calling today to tell you how important it is to me that you and your colleagues enact and fund early voting and automatic voter registration in the State Budget due April 1st. These proposals have broad support and are commonsense approaches to modernizing New York's elections. Our outdated election laws are barriers to voting that amount to voter suppression, and the best chance to remedy that now is to enact voting reform in the budget.
*You can add an anecdote about how early voting or modernizing our registration system would make voting more convenient for you.
I will be paying close attention to the release of the April 1st budget and will keep your position on voting rights in mind when I cast my vote during the next election. Thank you for your time.
Email Script
Dear Assemblymember/Senator/Governor __________,
My name is ____________. I am a New York voter and your constituent. I am writing you today to tell you how important it is to me that you and your colleagues enact and fund early voting and comprehensive automatic voter registration in this year's State Budget.
These proposals have broad support and are commonsense approaches to modernizing New York's elections. Our outdated election laws are barriers to voting that amount to voter suppression, and the best chance to remedy that now is to enact voting reform in the budget.
Our state consistently ranks among the worst states in voter turnout. In the 2014 midterms, only 29% of New York's voting-age citizens voted-the state's lowest turnout in 40 years. As many as 40% of citizens of voting age in New York, or 5.5 million people, were not registered to vote as of 2014. This registration rate puts New York in the bottom third of the country.
*You can add an anecdote about how early voting or modernizing our registration system would make voting more convenient for you.
I will be paying close attention to the release of the state budget and will keep your position on voting rights in mind when I cast my vote during the next election.
Thank you and regards, /S/