The law, named for the late civil rights icon, is the latest in a growing trend of states enacting voting rights protections as federal lawmakers remain gridlocked in Washington, D.C.
Williams offered explicit praise for the bill’s sponsors in the legislature, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember Latrice Walker, who are also members of the Brooklyn NAACP. She also praised Hochul for making good on a promise she made in her firstThe legislation passed both chambers in the final week of the legislative session in party line votes.
New York has seen instances of voter suppression across the state. Assemblymember Crystal People-Stokes recalled the 2005 election in her hometown of Buffalo when residents elected Byron Brown, the city's first Black mayor. Assemblymember Crystal Peoples-Stokes shared the story of what happened when voters in her hometown of Buffalo elected the city’s first Black mayor, Byron Brown, back in 2005.
The law was supposed to have included a provision that would establish a statewide database of voting and election information including results for every election in the state, voter registration data, maps, poll site lists, redistricting plans and more. That provision was spun off into a separate bill that passed the Senate but was not taken up in the Assembly.
“The legislature has passed the strongest and most comprehensive state voting rights act to date,” said Perry Grossman, a voting rights attorney with the NYCLU. But he also stressed that advocates for voting rights had not reached the finish line yet, since portions of the law will not be enacted until July 2023 and beyond.
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