Elections Professional and Activist
The villages of Baldwinsville, Fayetteville, and Liverpool may have ballot propositions to move their elections to November. I talk about how this is playing out, and the reasons behind it. I also talk about the Presidential Primary April 2nd in New York and where it stands.
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Welcome back to the #weeklywonk. The #weeklywonk is my weekly look at the electoral and registration stats that make up our home, Onondaga County and New York. This article mostly looks at political subdivisions that are having elections this year. However, on occasion this article will look at election related topics and opinions that shape our electoral tapestry. This is the first #weeklywonk of 2024 as I was travelling over the last few weeks representing Onondaga County and New York at the Elections Assistance Commission and NYS Elections Commissioner Association. For the first #weeklywonk of the year I will look at a recap of 2023 for Onondaga County Board of Elections and my role as commissioner.
A year of change
Two of the biggest developments at the Onondaga County Board of Elections was a change in our two biggest vendors handling our voter registration system and voting machines. In January we transitioned from our registration vendor to Hart Intercivic’s Next Vote system. Our contract was up with our old vendor, and we chose Hart during an RFP process in November. The transition took all year and started off with redistricting to implement the new County legislative districts passed in late 2021. Even though the lawsuit to challenge these lines was still underway the new lines were in place for the 2023 election.
The transition to our new voting machines took longer. The RFP for the new voting machines had to wait for several vendors to have their new equipment certified by NYS Board of Elections. Onondaga County approved a $3 million dollar capital project to replace our aging 15-year-old image caste systems, An RFP involving four different vendors in May resulted in an award to Clear Ballot system. However, we had to wait until August for the final certification to come. Onondaga And Oswego Counties were the first counties in New York State to roll these next generation machines out in 2023 and they were a phenomenal success in the General Election.
Another major change was expanding to full on-demand printing with our poll book vendor Knowink systems. In 2019 Onondaga County chose Knowink as our poll book and on demand printing vendor with the adoption of Early Voting. The need to print ballots on demand was a necessity for Early voting as voters from all over the county could show up. Over the next few years, we experimented implementing on demand in our largest Election Day sites. In 2023 we decided to go full on demand. All 72 polling sites for our June primary and 145 polling sites for the General Election. For the most part it was a successful roll out and will be perfected in 2024.
I expanded beyond my state roles to national groups.
I have served as Democratic Caucus Chair for the NYS Elections Commissioner Association since 2017. In that role I have worked with NYS legislatures to help shape policy and testified during the NYS budget process as well. I travelled to Albany several times for educational days to represent my caucus and its wishes for legislation changes. Some of the items we asked for that were enacted was $10 million in capital funding, Clarity on the start of hand counting, expanded mail in balloting for New Yorkers with the Early Vote by mail, and Golden Day same day registration for the start of Early Voting. However, some goals only passed one house that would have greatly strengthened the structure and funding of County Board of Elections and that remains a top priority of 2024.
My years of work leading the caucus started to open opportunities for me on the national level. In April of 2023 I joined the “Faces of Democracy” campaign for Issue One. This campaign brings together bi partisan election officials to argue for federal funding for elections and protection of election workers nationwide. As part of this new role, I travelled to DC in June to Washington DC. Our group met with several lawmakers, and I had the opportunity to do a video interview with The Washington Post.
In July I represented New York at the first in person meeting of the Local Leadership Council of the Elections Assistance Commission. This newly formed group is also made up if bi partisan election officials with two representatives, one of each party, from NYS. The caucus chairs were selected in 2021 for this group, but the first in person meeting was this last July. We attended a briefing on participation in the 2020 and 222 elections from EAC, we also met as a group to give recommendations to the EAC on how to help localities prepare for 2024. Finally, we elected leadership to continue our work into 2024.
Finally, I was also able to join the Partnership for Large Election Jurisdictions (PLEJ). This new group focuses on Boards of Elections servicing areas over 300k population. In September I travelled to Los Angelos to their second in person meeting. We toured the LA County warehouse where they designed their own voting system that services nearly 2 million voters. Our conference focused on ways to service large amounts of voters with a focus on the challenges of getting funding in 2024. I am looking forward to continuing my membership in all three of these groups in 2024.
Voters reject election shenanigans and look to expand voting access.
Two major election stories in Onondaga County happened before the General Election. In June the village of Liverpool made history. After 20 years of uncontested GOP rule in the village of Fayetteville, the Democrats put candidates on the ballot and swept. A main plank in their election campaign was to look at having the Board of Elections run their elections in November. Voters overwhelmingly agreed with their position. Late in September they voted to have the Board of Elections run their elections and In June of 2024 the village of Liverpool will have a chance to vote to move their election to November going forward.
Another election in the Town of Manlius voters rejected a scheme to divide the town into wards. The Manlius GOP led a petition effort to hold a special election to alter how the Town Board members are elected. Town Board members have been elected town wide in Manlius since the founding of the town. However, since 2019 all town wide offices have gone Democrat so that the entire board is Democratic as opposed to all republican before 2019. This flip in fortunes led the GOP to try and mount a special election to divide the town in hopes of drawing a district to favor a GOP candidate. The voters turned out for a record special election that had two-hour lines to wait and vote AGAINST the proposal. The town then in the general election voted for a Democratic sweep again.
Democrats excel in general election despite low turnout lack of competition.
The 2023 General Election was maligned by Syracuse.com as the apathy election before voters ever went to the polls. However, they missed a brewing understory of Democrats doing very well in places where they were competing. Despite one of the lowest turnouts since 2015, and many offices left uncontested, Democrats picked up a ton of seats. Democrats flipped the County Clerk (though it took another 90k ballot handcount to get there), two family court seats, the supervisors in Skaneateles and Lysander, two Salina Town Board seats, and a Town Board seat in Geddes. They also held all seas they went into the election except for the Pompey town supervisor, that was an uncontested flip. Despite the large margin of the County Executive seat, it was a Democrat, Marty Masterpole, who won the most votes in Onondaga County. Still the Democrats choice to not contest 9 of the 17 County legislature seats certainly will haunt them as it may have been a chance to pick up a few seats.
That is, it for this edition of the #weeklywonk. Next week I take another look back at 2023 and analyze my website dustinczarny.com. After two years of running this informational website, I look at the metrics behind it. As always subscribe to dustinczarny.com for all content and election news updates.
This week I talk with my good friend, Susan Lerner, of Common Cause New York . We talk about the work her organization is doing to protect voters in New York. We also talk about her goals for the upcoming NY Legislative session.
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If Freyleue’s group issuccessful, Baldwinsville voters could face voting on two competing referendums on March 19– one approving a June vote and the other approving the November one.
If both passed, that would create a conflict that would likely be settled in court, said Dustin Czarny, an Onondaga County Board of Elections commissioner.
Taking on the lawsuit against early vote by mail, trying to throw out the ability for New Yorkers to cast their ballot safely from home. She called the January 6th insurrectionists, ‘hostages’ and downplayed their role. And of course, she took a lead role in defending Donald Trump in his impeachments as well.
Czarny said now it’s up to the American people to decide if they want Stefanik or not.
Today I talk about the intricacies’ of the April 2nd New York Presidential Primary. There are possibilities it won’t happen, but not likely. I talk about the importance of the February 6th drop off dates and how tonight’s NH primary might play a role.
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These are the Legislative priorities of the Democratic Caucus Chair of the NYS Elections Commissioner Association for the 2024 Legislative session. We will be working with lawmakers to address these priorities as well as other pieces of legislation that affect elections throughout New York State. Additional bills that we support as well as updated bill numbers will be added to this space through out session.
2024 NYS Election Commissioners Association
Democratic Caucus Legislative Priorities
Give Boards of Elections the ability to properly serve the voters of New York.
To meet the needs of our modern political calendar we propose the following reforms to Boards of Election offices to be passed as a singular package by the NYS Legislature:
Since 2019, long awaited election reform has changed local Boards of Elections responsibilities without making the structural changes necessary for each county board to meet the needs of their voters. Making these changes will allow county commissioners the ability to strategically plan and bring year-round full-time management to each county’s board. In addition, each county will have sufficient staffing required for increased voter registration and canvassing requirements required under amendments to the New York State Election Law.
Voter Registration systems are the lifeblood of any county board of elections. Relying on individual systems from county to county is inefficient and expensive for New York Voters. We believe that the NYS Board of Elections should implement a single voter registration system for all of New York State. This would save county boards hundreds of thousands of dollars and would provide a more efficient system for a mobile populace. This can be accomplished by the NYSBOE selecting a single statewide vendor or developing a statewide voter registration system to manage the needs of county boards.
We also believe that standardized training and certification for county commissioners through the NYS Board of Elections is critical and will help ensure voters across the state have a uniform, professional experience when interacting with local county boards. New Commissioners will receive intensive training and existing commissioners would complete ongoing training through a certification program. This will ensure all counties have professionally trained election officials.
Invest in our election system by providing the following funding streams in the New York State Budget.
Heading into the 2024 Presidential Election County Board of Elections do not have the resources to properly administer the surge in registration and Early Vote by Mail expected this year. New York State should allow for a one-year grant to fund additional temporary workers. We also need dedicated funding for media outreach and public education campaigns to inform the voters of all the changes in election law so they can properly cast their ballots. Finally, it is essential that New York State properly and adequately fund the New York State Board of Elections. They provide guidance to all County Boards and must have the resources necessary to fulfill their ongoing responsibilities and provide oversight.
Provide flexibility for County Board of Election operations.
Inspector recruitment in urban and rural areas is becoming problematic. Limiting recruits to partisan election inspectors is becoming unfeasible. Allowing Boards of Elections to open some spots to non-enrolled or third-party voters may help ease the burden in hard to recruit areas. Polling places should still be required to have at least one member of both major parties, but flexibility in staffing will allow Boards to operate seamlessly throughout Early Voting and Election Day.
Boards of Elections are unique entities. They need flexibility to determine their own hours of operation to accommodate weekend and Early Voting as well as staying open on election deadlines.
Reform election law to provide clarity to better serve the election process.
Alter the automatic hand recount in the following ways.
The automatic hand-count has been in place for several election cycles. We have learned that the precinct scanners are accurate. Lowering the threshold for the hand-count will allow the county boards to focus on the truly close races that have a chance of changing hands. We must also stipulate that the hand-count should only start after initial certification allowing boards to properly prepare and sort ballots for counting. Finally, we should exempt party positions from the hand count rule as these elections are routinely close but not close enough to switch winners and draw resources away from publicly held offices.
The alteration of the Early Voting statute to mandate an Early Voting center in the highest City rather than municipality inside a county has created unforeseen issues. Many counties have exceedingly small incorporated cities that would mandate Early Voting centers away from more populous municipalities. Enacting a minimum voter threshold for a city will accomplish the goals of the legislature to make sure urban areas have access to Early Voting while allowing counties with small cities to ensure more of their citizens get access to Early voting.
Accuracy of our voter rolls is paramount for running a successful election. New York should participate in ERIC or another cross-state matching program so we can inactivate voters who have registered to vote in another state.
In our modern world there is no need to assign gender to political office. This causes confusion when creating ballots, often having to place candidates in gender labelled positions with which they do not identify. Making all offices gender neutral will allow Boards of Elections to make uniform ballots throughout all public offices.
The addition of the post primary drop off has reduced the number of non-active candidacies to the general election. However, it is too soon for some candidates to make this decision. We believe the date should extend to beyond the last day to certify a primary and for town candidates until the last day for a caucus to be held. This will allow candidates within close races to get a final determination before making the decision to drop off their third-party line. Similarly, Town candidates may wish to await town caucuses to make this determination which could happen well after the current cutoff date.
The enrollment freeze window from February 14th until after the certification of the June Primary is not long enough to protect party switching before town caucuses. Party switches right before a town caucus is not fair to the party holding the caucus and creates an administrative problem for county boards to process and give accurate town voter rolls before the caucus. Extending the window until after the last day to hold town caucuses will remedy both these issues.
The Presidential Primary in 2024 has been scheduled for April 2, 2024. This is the first day for turning in designating petitions. This creates an administrative burden for Boards of Elections. We support moving the political calendar earlier to have the submission of designating petitions start and end before the Presidential Primary of 2024.
Protecting party caucuses in the way we protect parties during designating petitions is vital to ensure an orderly designating process. An increase in organized party raiding at town caucuses to nominate non-party enrolled candidates is threatening to reduce competition for town offices statewide. Authorizations form Party chairs for non-party candidates wishing to participate in a party caucus will ensure an end to this practice.
Give Voters the resources they need to properly register and cast ballots.
It is harder to secure polling places with private institutions such as churches and businesses increasingly resistant to open doors. In many communities the only HAVA compliant buildings with proper parking are schools. Mandating a non-student attendance day on Election Day will balance the needs of protecting students while making these buildings available for the voting public.
Increasing the ability of voters to cast ballots by mail is an important priority. Likewise, the ability to register to vote should be as flexible. Thirty-five states and Washington DC have no-fault absentee voting. Twenty-two states and Washington DC have the same Day registration. New York should start the years lengthy process to amend our constitution to give voters a chance to choose these options in a high turnout election year.
Late emerging circumstances are a reality of our election process. Currently on Election Day infirmed individuals have no explicit process to receive an absentee. Giving commissioners the ability to approve Election Day absentee requests will allow those who have late unavoidable circumstances to still cast a ballot.
With the adoption of on-demand ballot printers and electronic polling books we have the tools to take the next logical step in our Election Day experience. We already allow voters to travel to the most convenient Early Voting center, we should allow, as a permissive reform, Boards of Elections to allow Vote Centers on Election Day.
(Bi-partisan support) Indicates a common goal with the NYS Elections Commissioner Association overall Legislative Agenda as Approved by bi-partisan Elections Commissioners in January 2024
Updated bill numbers and memorandums of support can be found online here:
Additional Election Related bills supported by the NYSECA Democratic Caucus of Commissioners
S4496/A9596 Requires the boards of trustees of SUNY and CUNY institutions to grant course credit to students who serve as election inspectors, poll clerks or election coordinators. 2024 Session No Action in either Senate or Assembly
S371/A2633 An act to amend the election law, in relation to enacting the “democracy preservation act”; and in relation to prohibiting contributions by foreign-influenced business entities and requiring certification. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S2298/A1176 An act to amend the election law, in relation to requiring that subpoenas relating to election matters be served with a separate informational sheet that summarizes why the subpoena has been issued. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S2349A/A10549 An act to amend the election law, in relation to providing that a voter may register to vote at any residence to which the voter maintains a continuous connection with an intent to remain. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S5943/A725 Candidate order on ballot. 2024 Session Passed Senate and Assembly
S6735A/A3250A Pre-registered 17-year-old request absentee ballot. 2024 Session Passed Senate and Assembly
S2381/A5007 Relates to enabling constitutionally qualified electors to register to vote and to cast a ballot on the same day at a polling location. 2024 Session No Action in either Senate or Assembly
S8454/A1127 Eliminates the ability of judicial candidates for office who are enrolled in a particular party to automatically be allowed to run as a candidate in another party’s primary election. 2024 Session No Action in either Senate or Assembly
S242/A6971 Establishes portable polling places for Early Voting. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S585/A9162 Allows NYS Board of Elections to remove Elections Commissioner for Cause. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S7725A/A4759B Enacts the election workers and polling places protection act 2024 Session No Action in either Senate or Assembly
S4433/A8899 Authorizes full-time college students to act as election inspectors and poll clerks in the election district where their colleges are located. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S8827A/A10309 Requires any student graduating from a high school in New York state be provided with a voter registration form. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S8116/A3240 Permits enrollment in the address confidentiality program for election officers. 2024 Session No Action in either Senate or Assembly
S263/A8608 Prohibits deceptive practices and the suppression of voters, and increases penalties for violations of the elective franchise 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
S8752/A9732 Provides for automatic voter registration and pre registration for persons applying for certain department of motor vehicles documentation, and for Medicaid enrollees. 2024 Session Passed Senate, No Action in Assembly
This week I come from hotel in DC as I wrap up the Local Leadership Council annual meeting for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. I detail what the LLC is and how it is helping Election Administrators throughout the country. Enjoy.
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“The Big Lie Continues Today,” Dustin Czarny, election commissioner for the Onondaga County Board of Elections in New York, said Friday on Capitol Hill.
Still, worries remain, especially for swing states like Pennsylvania, said Dustin Czarny, the Board of Elections commissioner for Onondaga County, New York..
“We’re concerned about the threat of violence,” said Mr. Czarny, who has talked to his colleagues in other states. “I know my colleagues have received a lot of those threats. These increased threats and activity are prevalent on our minds.”
Dustin M. Czarny