NYS budget: Approve early voting, Child Victims Act, retirement savings plan (Editorial)

By Editorial Board
Syracuse Post-Standard
March 09, 2018

http://www.syracuse.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/03/nys_budget_yes_on_early_voting_child_victims_act_retirement_savings_plan_editori.html

Voting screens at the Camillus Fire Station polling place, Nov. 4, 2014. A proposal tucked into Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget would allow for early voting in the state. Photo by David Lassman

New York should join 37 other states and the District of Columbia that have instituted early voting. The Legislature should do it this year, so that it can be tested in the 2019 off-year election and fully operational by the 2020 presidential election.

Early voting is among the policy initiatives contained in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed 2018-19 state budget. Cuomo budgeted $7 million to help pay for counties to open one polling site for every 50,000 voters. The governor is calling for polling places to be open for 12 days before Election Day, including weekend hours; some legislative proposals call for fewer days of early voting.

The number of days is less important than the concept. Stretching out voting over one or two weeks gives voters the ability to fit a trip to the polling place around their work, school and family obligations. Now, if you are stuck at school or work on Election Day and can't get to the polls on time, you are disenfranchised.

Early voting also would reduce Election Day lines at polling places; give poll workers more time to sort out voter registration errors; and reduce the impact that bad weather on Election Day can have on voter turnout.

Increasing voter participation is what early voting is all about. Only 57 percent of eligible New York voters cast a ballot in the 2016 presidential election - the eighth-worst turnout in the nation. The numbers are even more dismal for off-year and primary elections.

We believe voting is a right and an obligation of citizenship. Simply giving voters more time will encourage more of them to vote. The more people participating in elections, the better for our democracy.

We would urge New York to go even farther, and move to all-mail elections, as Washington State, Oregon and Colorado have done. But we know such a huge leap would not happen quickly or easily.

Early voting can be achieved right now. Let's achieve it.

Here are two more proposals we support that have been kicking around Albany for years. Cuomo included them in his budget, which may raise their chances of passing:

Child Victims Act: Justice for sex abuse survivors

The current statute of limitations gives survivors of child sexual abuse five years from the time they turn 18 to bring a criminal complaint; civil lawsuits must be brought within three years of age 18. Abuse survivors often do not come to terms with the trauma until much later than that. Cuomo's version of the Child Victims Act - tougher than the bill he supported last year - would allow criminal prosecution anytime of a sexually related felony that was committed against a child under age 18. It would extend the statute of limitations for civil claims to 50 years from the date of the offense. The legislation also would open a one-year window to allow past victims who were shut out by the statute of limitations to sue. They would still have to prove their claims to a judge.

Opponents of the Child Victims Act - among them the Catholic Church, Orthodox Jewish groups and the Boy Scouts of America - have lobbied hard against it, fearing a flood of lawsuits. Catholic dioceses in New York City, Syracuse and Buffalo initiated compensation programs for victims of pedophile priests, which critics see as an effort to limit their liability. The opposition of these groups prevents all sexual abuse survivors -- not just those harmed by priests or scout leaders -- from seeking justice. It's time to give survivors their day in court.

Everybody knows we're not saving enough for retirement. Research by AARP has shown that you're 15 times more likely to save if it's through an automatic payroll deduction. Yet some 3.5 million New Yorkers working in the private sector don't have access to an automatic retirement savings plan, such as a 401(k).

Legislation contained in the governor's budget would create a Secure Choice Savings Program for retirement savings. Employers would have the option of joining it on behalf of their employees. The only cost to the business would be adding a line to the pay stub. The cost to the state would be negligible. A private financial services company would be chosen to administer the retirement plan, similar to how the state's 529 college savings plan works.

The more people save for retirement, the less taxpayers will have to support them in their old age. Giving workers an easy, cheap, automatic way to save for retirement sounds like a no-brainer to us.