To the Editor:

Re “Flurry of Voting Laws Signifies a Party’s Comeback in Albany” (front page, Jan. 15):

Albany should get two cheers for finally enacting early voting and taking the first step to amend our state Constitution to permit same-day registration and unrestricted mail-in voting — reforms that dozens of other states have had for years.

While they are at it, members of the Legislature should also enact more robust election reform: a statewide public matching funds program like New York City’s, to level the playing field and encourage working- and middle-class candidates; primaries for special elections to give voters a choice in one-party districts instead of having party insiders determine who is elected; and a streamlined Election Law, to eliminate onerous eligibility and deadline requirements that too easily disqualify candidates and thus narrow the choice of voters.

Serious reform should also include the creation of an independent and professionalized board of elections so that voting is more efficient and election outcomes are verifiable.

If these reforms are passed, Albany will deserve a full-throated three cheers.

Jerry H. Goldfeder
New York
The writer, an election lawyer, served as special counsel for public integrity to Andrew M. Cuomo, who was then New York’s attorney general.

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