From our friends at Concerned Voters of Westchester
Hi All!
Many thanks for your continued interest and engagement to help ensure the general election runs without a hitch! Much has happened since our last update! See below for new actions, what’s new and what’s next.
ACTIONS
Voter Education
Help educate voters on how to vote safely and securely. Please share this image with your members and followers, and ask them to help spread the word.
Local activists are doing their part to educate voters too! The postcard below was created to educate voters and will start going out within the next week on behalf of several local Democratic candidates. If your organization is interested in using these postcards to educate voters, please email us at concernedvotersofwestchester@gmail.com.
Westchester Needs Election Inspectors!
The county BoE sent out the postcard below to registered voters. Please encourage your members to become poll inspectors and direct them to this information and this form to apply. And, to set your members expectations, the procedural training will be fully online and the hands-on voting equipment training will be conducted in-person in a socially distanced manner.
What’s New?
BoL Election Working Group (EWG) Report
Our advocacy is working! The BoL’s Election Working Group released their report via the BoL’s newsroom page. The report is 21 pages and includes many recommendations submitted to the BoL from election advocates. Also included are BoL press releases, letters to the BoE from George Latimer and almost 300 pages of public written comments. Feel free to share this report.
pages 34-35 - BoE confirms that all eligible voter will be able to vote at any early votingpoll site https://www.lohud.com/story/news/politics/elections/2020/08/17/westchester-county-board-of-elections-early-voting-locations-absentee-mail-ballots/5586739002/
pages 36-334 - Public written comments
NYS Legislature Hearing "Elections in a Pandemic: A Look at the 2020 Primary"
We heard from a variety of election officials and advocates at Tuesday’s hearing so in case you missed it, you can view it here. Beware! The hearing was 6 1/2 hours long. Below are a couple of key highlights.
Westchester’s Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner, Reggie Lafayette, was invited and scheduled to speak alongside Onondaga Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner, Dustin M. Czarny. Commission Lafayette was a no show.
Voters that applied for an absentee ballot for BOTH the 2020 primary and general election must apply again to receive an absentee ballot for November!
Testimony can still be submitted by this Friday, 8/21
In our next update, we will share the testimony CVOW will submit as a supplement to the Westchester public written comments we submitted beforethe hearing.
What’s Next?
The BoE is legally required to issue a communications plan as well as polling locations by August 31st. Should that deadline be met, we will help amplify the information and if the deadline is missed, we will publicly point out this election law violation to voters, elected officials and election authorities. Regardless of the outcome, we will share our response with you and ask that you also amplify it.