Speaking Out






(July 13, 2004) - Lost in the hue and cry over the New York state Legislature's inability to pass a budget is the alarming fact that it also has failed to pass federally mandated election reform legislation. As a result, not only are this fall's elections at risk of being even more chaotic than usual, the state may forfeit millions of federal dollars.
In 2002, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act. This landmark legislation imposed several new requirements and authorized almost $4 billion to the states to improve their election systems, including upgrading voting technology and voter registration rolls and expanding accessibility for disabled people and non-English speakers. It also required states this year to offer provisional ballots, have in place an administrative complaint procedure to address poll problems, and require voters who register to vote for the first time by mail to present identification.

Twenty-five states have received their full share of $861 million in federal funds for the year. New York has not because the Legislature has not appropriated the required 5 percent matching funds, nor has it passed legislation to detail how New York will implement its voting improvements.

What are the possible repercussions?

None of the $66 million the state has already received for election improvements can be spent without legislation detailing how it should be used. Moreover, if the Legislature fails to enact legislation this summer, the state may have to forfeit some or all of the $235 million in federal money it is due by 2005, including $140 million to replace our antiquated lever machines, with the rest for such costs as poll worker training and voter education.

One of the act's most controversial requirements is that first-time voters who register by mail must present ID either when registering or voting. One issue state legislation must address is what types of identification will be accepted. Its failure to clarify that means that county boards, not to mention poll workers, may create vary-ing ID criteria.

The state Board of Elections has created a list of possible IDs, but legislation is arguably necessary for local boards to impose the requirements.

The Brennan Center for Justice recently surveyed elections commissioners and found that only 18 out of 45 counties surveyed (40 percent) correctly responded that only first-time voters who registered by mail are subject to the new ID requirements. A study by the New York Public Interest Research Group found that only nine of New York's 58 local boards of elections (16 percent) gave substantially complete and correct information on the types of ID that would be accepted at the polls.

This could have enormous equal protection and voting rights implications, and lead to the wrongful disenfranchisement of many voters.

Under HAVA, each state is supposed to set up an administrative complaint procedure system. Voters who feel their rights under the act have been violated are supposed to be able to file a complaint with an administrative body that will hold a hearing and come to some equitable resolution. Lacking legislation, New York has no such process.

New York is eligible for millions of dollars to replace its antiquated lever machines. However, the Legislature has not decided what types of new machines ought to be considered or how they should be chosen. So, there is an increasing chance that New York will not meet the 2006 federal deadline for replacing machines, will risk violating the law's accessibility requirements, and will have to give up the machine replacement money.

Both the Assembly and the Senate passed their own bills for implementing HAVA, but despite many conference committee meetings, haven't reconciled the bills. Now legislators have gone home.

All New Yorkers lament their perennial intransigence. But this time they are not only playing with our fiscal viability, they are also playing with our democracy.


$4.4 billion: That would be New York's interest payment in 2006 on the state's debt.
Democrat & Chronicle.com

(July 14, 2004) - In 2006, interest paid on New York's government debt, which is $39 billion and growing, will be larger than the entire national budg-ets of Niger, Albania, Haiti and Burkina Faso combined.
It's a $4.4 billion wake-up call to the state Legislature. New York's "spend now, pay later" attitude is getting much too costly. As the Legislature addresses this year's budget, debt reduction should be a priority.

Unfortunately, New York's spendthrift ways seem to be getting more entrenched. Though state tax revenues are down, state spending continues to spiral. Too much of that gap is made up by taking on more debt.

What's worse, the state is forcing its borrowing habits down onto state and local agencies that depend on its support.

When the state budget is late, as it has been for the past 20 years, local organizations, such as the City School District and the Al Sigl Center, are often forced to utilize lines of credit to stay in business until the budget is passed. This money, and the state's, could be much better spent on pressing community needs.

The Legislature can help local organizations avoid wasting resources on unnecessary interest payments by passing an on-time budget.

And state leaders can help control the state's debt burden by displaying fiscal responsibility as they hammer out the final version of the 2004-2005 budget. Tackling such runaway budget items as pensions and Medicaid, for example, should be higher on the to-do list.

Doing more of this borrowing in public view is also necessary. Currently, the law allows state leaders to avoid referendums and public scrutiny by using public authorities to borrow money.

These authorities, run by ap-pointees without much public scrutiny, are responsible for around 90 percent of the state's debt load.

Reforms of that system, as proposed by both state Comptroller Alan Hevesi and a committee convened by Gov. Pataki, should be taken seriously.

In a state with as many needs as New York, spending billions of dollars annually to finance debt is a waste.