Albany looks into early voting to boost turnout

[hrmjustin]

By Jeremiah Horrigan

On paper, it looks pretty simple. Albany legislators are proposing the state join 32 other states in allowing voters to cast their ballots in person a week or two early.

Proponents say more opportunity to vote equals more votes. More votes means increasing the voice of the state's voters. It's not as if the state is outstanding in this regard, they say.

New York had the country's 44th-lowest voter turnout in 2012. The turnout nationwide was 58 percent. In Orange and Ulster counties, it was 72 percent and in Sullivan 60 percent. That was a presidential election year; in off-presidential election cycles, local voter turnout drops into the mid-30s or low-40s percent range.

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