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Danks Burke: State Gov’t Needs To Work On Early Voting

July 11, 2020

From Leslie Danks Burke:

As counties begin releasing their turnout data, Leslie Danks Burke, candidate for State Senate in the 58th District, is urging the state legislature to use its unusual, upcoming July legislative session to protect access to absentee voting ahead of the General Election in November.

“Voters are the most important people in our democratic republic, yet Albany silences voters’ voices by making it difficult to vote. This election shows that, clearly, voters want to participate, but they’ve been stymied by obstacles to voting. Get rid of those obstacles to make our democratic republic stronger. With one of the most important elections of our lifetimes coming up, our state leaders must protect access to absentee voting during this pandemic, and they must make these changes permanent for future elections. Vote-by-mail was critically important, and our state leaders must make changes permanent for future elections,” said Danks Burke.

In order to secure a constitutional amendment to make vote-by-mail permanent policy as quickly as possible, both houses of the Legislature must pass the constitutional amendment in two consecutive sessions, so before August 3rd of this year and then again in 2021. It would then appear on the November 2021 ballot for New Yorkers to vote into law.

“Voting is how we the people get our seat at the table, and we should not have to risk our health to exercise this right. This year, even with vote-by-mail temporarily implemented by Executive Order at the last minute in the middle of a pandemic, our Boards of Elections got to work to help hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers get heard. For the sake of our democratic republic, we must make this permanent,” said Danks Burke.

Leslie Danks Burke is an attorney and a longtime advocate for education, healthcare, and rural economic development. She is the daughter of farmers and a mother who, together with her husband, is raising two children in this community. A Democrat, she previously ran for State Senate in the 58th in 2016, outraising incumbent Tom O’Mara by over $200,000 and receiving more voter support from outside her party than any other challenger to a sitting incumbent that year — on either side. Since 2016, Danks Burke has remained a powerful advocate for local community engagement and honest government.


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