Two Republican state lawmakers from northeastern New York explained their mixed votes on a package of election reform proposals the Legislature passed last week.

While Democratic Assemblyman Billy Jones of Chateaugay voted yes to all seven proposals — five bills plus two constitutional amendments — his neighboring Assemblyman Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, voted yes to three of them and no to four. State Sen. Betty Little, also R-Queensbury, voted yes to four and no to three.

Both houses of Legislature, now with Democratic majorities, passed all seven pieces of legislation Jan. 14, and the five bills were delivered that day to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has indicated he will sign them into law. The two constitutional amendments would need second passage by the legislature in 2021, followed by voter approval in a statewide referendum.

On several of these bills, Little, Stec and Jones voted for Republican-led amendments that would have required the state to help counties pay to implement these changes, and to postpone implementing a consolidated federal-state primary until 2020 — but Democratic majorities in both houses did not allow the amendments.

Jones issued a press release explaining his votes the same day; Little and Stec gave explanations upon request the following day.

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Automatic transfer

Stec voted against Assembly bill 775 (the same as Senate bill 1099), which would automatically transfer someone’s voter registration when they move within New York state instead of requiring the voter to file an address change. He said its benefits would not be worth the added costs to county boards of elections.

“People know the drill: When you change addresses, you change all your bills, you change all your utilities,” he said. “At some point it has to fall on the voter. It’s not that hard to fill out a postcard changing your voter registration.”

Little, however, voted for the bill.

“Today’s society is very mobile, and re-registering to vote isn’t on the mind of a lot of people once they have moved,” she said. “We ought to be able to facilitate this between the state Board of Elections and our counties, but here again the Democrats should be identifying a means of paying for it so counties aren’t saddled with another unfunded mandate. We also need to look at the regulation that would follow enactment of the law to assure we don’t see an opportunity for voting fraud.”

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Pre-registration at 16, 17

Both Stec and Little voted no to A774-S1100, which would let 16- and 17-year-olds pre-register to vote when they get their driving permits or licenses, with the voter registration taking effect as soon as they turn 18.

“This seems totally unnecessary,” Little said. “I would instead support an online public awareness campaign utilizing social media.”

“Should we create another structure, another database to track 16- and 17-year-olds?” Stec asked. “When you’re 18, register to vote.”

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Closing ‘LLC loophole’

Both Little and Stec voted for A776-S1101, which would close the “LLC loophole” by making the $5,000 limit on corporations’ campaign donations apply to limited liability companies as well. The bill would also make LLCs name anyone with a membership interest, and his or her membership portion.

Little, however, said more should be done.

“Closing the LLC loophole alone doesn’t address the concern of big money influencing the campaigns and elections,” she said. “Most agree it should be closed, but to really address the overarching issue, the Legislature and governor need to also look at PACs, unions and other special-interest donations and activities.”

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Early voting

Stec voted against A780-S1102, which would have voting begin on the 10th day before Election Day.

“I thought it could be addressed by another bill I voted in favor of, which is no-excuse absentee,” he said. “Now you’ll have to have election inspectors for 10 days, and I also have a concern about the integrity of the vote.”

Little, however, backed the proposal.

“I sponsored legislation last year that would have created the option of early voting,” she said. “I think this is a very reasonable, accommodating step to increase voter turnout; however, I am disappointed the Democrats have not provided an assurance counties will be reimbursed for implementing this.”

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Consolidating primaries

Little voted against A779-S1103, which would consolidate the state and federal primary elections into one day in June, rather than federal primaries in June and state ones in September, and move up election filing dates as well.

“I support consolidating the primary election dates in August, not June,” Little said. “For June, the petition process will likely start in late February and early March. This will create a challenge in upstate communities that still can expect a lot of snow and cold temperatures this time of year. The main proponents of this change are from downstate and New York City, where the process of garnering signatures will be a lot easier.”

Stec also said August is better — “and then people aren’t running around in Saranac Lake in February instead of in April” — but ultimately voted for the proposal. He warned, however, that petitioning will start five weeks from now.

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‘Same-day’ registration

Both Little and Stec voted against A777-S1048, which would amend the state Constitution to remove the requirement that counties complete voter registration at least 10 days before an election. The amendment would also call for new laws to guard against voter fraud.

“I think this opens the door to well-funded political operations mobilizing voters to change their registration just for the sake of undermining primary elections,” Little said. “Secondly, this would create the opportunity for same-day registration. We have a long way to go in developing the technology and creating a system that would make this feasible. County boards are already very busy on Election Day and would have a very big challenge registering people to vote on Election Day. And I don’t see how this is possible without first requiring voters present some form of identification.”

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‘No excuse’ absentee ballot

Both Little and Stec voted for A778-S1049, which would amend the constitution to get rid of the requirement that a voter state a reason for requesting an absentee ballot. Excuses that allow absentee ballots now include being ill, disabled or out of the country.

“I had proposed this two years ago but discovered the state Constitution would need to be amended, so instead proposed early voting legislation, which is much less complicated and quicker to achieve,” Little said.