Hundreds of NY voters to file lawsuit Monday about switched registrations/voter suppression
via Election Justice USA, https://www.facebook.com/ElectionJusticeUSA/?fref=ts
Hundreds of New York state voters to file suit calling the closed primary 'a threat to our democratic system' after claiming their party affiliation mysteriously changed
A national voting rights coalition is railing against New York's closed primary system after hundreds of people eager to vote on Tuesday claim a change on their voter registration will prevent them from casting a ballot, according to a lawsuit to be filed Monday.
At least 200 outraged voters from throughout New York state have joined a lawsuit put together by the advocacy group Election Justice U.S.A., saying the party affiliation on their voter registration changed and now they won’t be able to vote because of the closed primary system.
“For many of our complainants, to have the electoral process deprived of them, it’s devastating,” Shyla Nelson, an activist and spokeswoman for Election Justice U.S.A., told the Daily News.
New York is one of 11 states that has a closed primary system and, due to an obscure election law, voters must have been registered by November of the previous year for the party whose primary they plan to vote in — this is the earliest change-of-party deadline in the country.
The lawsuit — which will be filed in Brooklyn federal court — calls for New York to become an open primary state, allowing voters of any party affiliation to cast their ballot for the candidate of their choosing.
“If the primary were open, this would be a non-issue for thousands of registered voters that have had this happen to them. By making the primary open, it eliminates one of the most vexing problems New Yorkers have dealt with in this primary season,” Nelson told The News.
“It’s a threat to the democratic process.”
The closed primary system is intended to prevent “party raiding,” when voters switch parties en masse to influence their rival party's primary.
But the extra restrictions and early deadlines can leave some people out, even the children of GOP front-runner Donald Trump, who won't be voting in the Republican primary because of what they called an 'onerous' process.
Numerous voters involved in the suit claim they looked up their voter registrations after the deadline passed to find that their party affiliation had changed from Democratic or Republican to “Not affiliated” or “Independent,” a switch that will bar them from voting in either primary.
Requests for comment from the New York State Board of Elections were not immediately returned.
Dozens of people vented about the changes to their voter registration on social media.
“I have been registered to vote at the same address as a Democrat since 1999,” Arleen Haskins wrote on Facebook alongside a photo of a registration form that says she “is not involved in a party.”
“I registered by mail as a first time NY voter (Kings Couny) on the 24th. My registration showed up on the website on Friday but it says “Unaffiliated with a party,’ even though I check Democratic,” Sydney Shea posted on a Facebook group for New York voters dealing with voter registration issues.
Some voters involved in the lawsuit — who are primarily Democratic — also claim they their voter registration had been canceled altogether.
“The integrity of the election process is vital to democracy,” fumed Cliff Arnebeck, an Ohio-based attorney involved with Election Justice U.S.A. who has litigated against election fraud since 2000.
In the Empire State, the Sanders campaign has publicly slammed the closed primary policy saying it shuts out independent voters and young voters, two groups that would tend to vote for the socialist-leaning candidate.
“We have a system here in New York where independents can’t get involved in the Democratic primary, where young people who have not previously registered and want to register today can’t do it,” Sanders said during a rally Wednesday night in Washington Square Park in Manhattan
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/hundreds-ny-voters-file-lawsuit-alleged-voter-fraud-article-1.2603876
= new reply since forum marked as read
they should have KNOWN their voter registrations would be switched. How SILLY of them to not anticipate that.
