Ross Sandler, Center for New York City Law Director

Large numbers of people will vote by mail-in ballots this November because of Covid-19. Everyone should be concerned about the impact of mail-in ballots on democracy. (read more…)

Voters will receive the campaign contribution information in the CFB’s Voter Guides. On April 9, 2019, Council Member Ben Kallos introduced Introduction 1504 of 2019, a proposed bill that would reveal where politicians get their campaign contributions from and make this information more accessible to voters. To track the source of contributions, the bill would require campaign contributors to indicate their industry.

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New technology hopes to solve polling site issues quicker. Photo: BOE.

City Board of Elections purchases 4,000 tablet computers to speed up election results and monitoring. The Board of Elections of the City of New York has introduced new technology to speed up election results and report problems at poll sites. The Board’s tablet program has grown since its implementation in 2013 when election monitoring teams started with 500 tablets. The Board now has more than 4,000 tablets housed in the Board’s Manhattan warehouse and available for use. Both the monitoring teams and the poll sites are issued their own sets of tablets. The tablets are Microsoft Surfaces specifically chosen for their USB ports, central charging, and general flexibility, according to Steve Thompson, supervisor of Poll Site Devices at the NYC Board of Elections. Each poll site will have two tablets powered by a Verizon Wifi Hotspot for Internet access. (read more…)