Advocates push for time extender bill to be signed into law

Sept. 11 has a double meaning for voting rights groups in the Empire State.

The attacks happened on a historic primary Election Day in New York City that was halted when terrorists struck.

Ahead of the upcoming midterm elections this year, voting rights groups statewide are pressuring Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign a measure into law that will extend the time polling locations are open if something happens to delay voting.

“That horrible tragedy stopped voting in New York City, and the election had to be rescheduled,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York. “Sept. 11 for us has double significance. It was a horrible tragedy and it interfered with voting. It’s really appropriate for us to be talking about the need for the governor to sign this bill. Let’s have it in place for our November 2026 elections.”

Democratic state Sen. Andrew Gounardes sponsored this bill in his chamber.

It passed the state Legislature this past session.

Gounardes explains its intent.

“It should be an automatic extension of time any time there’s a delay of more than one hour,” he said. “So, if a poll site is inaccessible for more than an hour, machines are down for more than an hour, if, god forbid, ICE agents take over a polling location this November and prevent people from voting for more than an hour, we should automatically extend the time the polling site is open by that hour.”

Gounardes said an exception is if voters didn’t lose their ability to vote during the interruption.

Typically, when a situation arises that interrupts voting, Gounardes said the local board of elections has to decide to extend the time to allow people to make up for the delay.

He said this is a “safe way” to guarantee that time isn’t lost, and people don’t lose time to vote.

Advocates say it will bring “uniformity,” but express some boards of elections have raised concerns some polling sites may be open later than others in their county.

“My response to that is that it happens already,” said Lerner. “If there’s a long line at a polling place at 9pm that polling places has got to stay open.”

Spectrum News 1 reached out to the New York State Board of Elections for comment.

The board said it isn’t commenting on “pending legislation.”

The governor’s office tells Spectrum News 1 she will “review this legislation.”