#NY lawmakers to grill election officials over mail-in ballot debacle

“#NY lawmakers to grill election officials over mail-in ballot debacle”

August 9, 2020 | 7:10pm

Officials from the city’s Board of Elections will appear at a hearing in Albany on Tuesday as state legislators seek answers over the mail-in ballot debacle for the June 23 primary election.

Lawmakers are expected to press election officials about the extent of preparation for the general election on Nov. 3 — when potentially millions of mail-in ballots could be sent by voters wary of crowded polling sites during the pandemic.

But lawmakers have already raised concerns that the US Postal Service, which was part of the primary mess, is refusing to testify.

“That’s outrageous,” said Senate Elections Committee Chairman Zellnor Myrie (D-Brooklyn) of the Postal Service snub. “This is not a fishing expedition. We want to get this right for the voters in November.”

Myrie added: “We want to know what went wrong and what we can do better.”

A Post analysis of city Board of Election records showed 84,000 mail-in ballots weren’t counted for the Democratic presidential primary.

Some of the reasons for disqualification were: mail-in ballots not properly post-marked, some arrived late, and voters forgot to sign the envelope included with the ballot.

The result was a 21 percent rejection rate for mail-in ballots.

Myrie said he’s concerned about the Postal Service refusing to take part in the hearing, since it’s processing and post-marking of ballots is integral to votes being counted. The Postal Service was still in possession and processing 33,000 ballots on June 22 — the day before the primary.

He noted that the failure to testify comes as US Postmaster General Louis Dejoy announced an overhaul of the mail delivery service’s leadership less than three months before the general election. Myrie and other Democrats worry that DeJoy, a donor and pal of President Trump, could undermine the use of mail-in ballots.

Dejoy denied he’s trying to undermine the election. “Despite any assertions to the contrary, we are not slowing down Election Mail or any other mail. Instead, we continue to employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling of all Election Mail,” he said on Friday.

A federal judge last week ordered election officials to count thousands of mail-in ballots in the city and throughout the state that were declared invalid for not having a post-mark or arriving at offices shortly after the June 23 primary.

Manhattan Judge Analisa Torres said voters were disenfranchised and denied their constitutional rights after being encouraged by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to vote by absentee ballot as a public health measure during the coronavirus pandemic.

The counting of additional ballots is not expected to affect the outcome of any election results certified last week by the city Board of Elections, officials said.

Assembly Education Committee chairman Charles Lavine (D-Nassau) said, “We’re here to learn. We’re here to learn from our successes and mistakes and we will.”