N.Y. needs its own voting revolution

Today, we honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It’s been nearly 50 years since King was assassinated after dedicating his life to fighting against social and political disenfranchisement in the United States.

As we reflect on his impact and the significant progress our country has made, we must sadly acknowledge that in at least one key respect, his vision of equality and justice has not been fully realized for millions of citizens .

One of King’s biggest victories was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which helped remove barriers to the voting process.

“Voting is the foundation stone for political action,” he said.

In making the case for that law in March 1965, President Lyndon Johnson said, “about this there can and should be no argument: every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.”

The same could be said today, as the right to vote is under attack across the country, often through voter-ID laws, felony disenfranchisement and aggressive gerrymandering.

Here in New York, we have our own serious problem. Archaic voting laws make it harder for many citizens to get to the polls. I have no doubt King would be ashamed of that fact.

New York, which calls itself a progressive leader, has a voter participation rate that consistently ranks as one of the lowest in the country. As a result, it’s harder to build an inclusive democracy that truly represents the full diversity of the electorate.

It’s time for Gov. Cuomo to bring New York in line with states across the country by prioritizing election reform measures like early voting and automatic voter registration by putting them in his 2018-19 budget.

Thirty-seven states have some form of early voting, which allows working people the chance to vote up to two weeks in advance of an election. If you can’t miss a shift on Election Day, you don’t have to miss out on voting.

Not New York. Here, working people often have to choose between going to work or going to the polls. That’s a fundamentally regressive policy.

It’s also hard for seniors, those who are disabled, in school, working or in charge of child care who can’t necessarily find time to cast a ballot. They end up forfeiting their right to vote for no good reason.

It’s not that the spirit of civic participation is lacking. For over 20 years, African-Americans nationwide have been committed voters, turning out at rates close to 60%. But African-Americans are also disproportionately workingclass people with an average income of $32,583. And roughly 17% of black women are single parents.

Early voting would allow these dedicated voters to exercise their rights without missing a day’s worth of pay or school pickup.

To go further to enshrine the right to vote as one of our most valued, automatic voter registration would make it easier to get on the rolls in the first place, by allowing any eligible person who interacts with a government agency the option to register to vote, unless he or she declines. It’s so hard to vote in New York that other states cite it as an example to justify cutting back or repealing their own voting rights legislation. When we don’t defend voting rights in New York, it makes it that much harder to protect eligible voters in North Carolina, Alabama and Ohio.

And voters in other states badly need our support to reverse felony disenfranchisement and combat voter ID laws, both of which are big and unfair burdens on black voters.

New York should be a guardian of core democratic values and a model for the rest of the country. Voting should be accessible for all eligible citizens, whether they live in a rural area, suburban town or crowded city.

Dr. King understood that the freedoms that we depend on and fight hard to protect are decided at the ballot box, so we should never take voting rights for granted. Expanding and protecting our freedom to vote in New York will help us better secure civil rights, immigrants’ rights, reproductive rights, a clean environment, good jobs, and justice and safety in all of our communities.

If Albany lawmakers truly want to celebrate Dr. King’s life and work, they can start by putting voters first.