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RENSSELAER COUNTY 鈥� Today the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a motion to intervene on behalf of Rensselaer County residents and the Troy NAACP in New York Attorney General Letitia James鈥� lawsuit against the Rensselaer County Board of Elections (BOE) for their refusal to provide Troy residents, including voters of color, low-income voters, and voters with disabilities, with equitable access to early voting sites, as required by state law.

鈥淎dequate and equitable access to early voting provides all New Yorkers, but especially the most vulnerable, with a meaningful opportunity to exercise their right to vote.鈥� said Perry Grossman, senior staff attorney at the NYCLU. 鈥淓arly voting lowers the barriers to the ballot. By persistently locating early voting sites in places not reasonably accessible to many Troy voters, the BOE is ignoring the law and making the cost of early voting prohibitive for those who need it the most but can least afford it. Early voting offers necessary flexibility to vote for people who have work or care obligations, provides a lifeline for those voters for whom absentee ballots are not accessible, and enables those who have been the target of voter suppression to build power by voting together with other members of their community. The NYCLU stands with the Attorney General鈥檚 office in our commitment to ensuring adequate and equitable access to early voting in Troy.鈥�

鈥� the most densely populated area of the county 鈥� the BOE and its commissioners refuse to select an early voting site that is easily accessible Troy residents, where the majority of the county鈥檚 Black, Latinx, and lower-income residents reside. , the Rensselaer County BOE appealed the AG鈥檚 suit to the Third Department, contesting the AG鈥檚 standing to protect Troy voters鈥� rights through the courts.

Troy comprises almost a third of Rensselaer County鈥檚 population, and many Troy voters, including Black, Latinx, disabled, and low-income residents, rely on public transportation to exercise their right to vote. However, the BOE has consistently selected early voting sites that provide only minimal access by public transportation, particularly for voters commuting from Troy鈥檚 northern neighborhoods. These decisions were made despite the availability of centrally located sites in Troy that are preferable based on nearly every factor BOE was required to consider, The NYCLU is seeking intervention on behalf of the Troy NAACP and individual voters to ensure that the access to early voting won at the trial court is not lost to a jurisdictional shell game.

鈥淎s a visually-impaired person, I must vote in person because absentee ballots do not allow me to vote privately and independently. I don鈥檛 drive and I rely on public transportation to commute to work. It would be dangerous for me to walk two miles each way on roads with no sidewalks and cumbersome to travel two hours with multiple bus transfers to vote. I will not leave my right to participate in our democracy to the whims of unreliable paratransit. I鈥檓 taking action today to bring the racial injustice, income discrimination, and discrimination against people with disabilities inherent in the BOE鈥檚 voting rights violations against my community to an end,鈥� said Rensselaer County resident Clifton Perez.

鈥淚鈥檝e never missed an election in five decades until 2o2o, when long lines and a lack of polling places prevented me from casting my vote. As a senior citizen in public housing, I鈥檇 love to be able to vote early, but can鈥檛 afford to travel across town and wait in long lines to do so. My ability to vote is at risk unless an early voting location opens in our community,鈥� said Rensselaer County resident Sharon Ferguson.

鈥淚 cannot afford to turn down jobs because they make it difficult for me to travel nearly three hours round trip to cast a ballot on Election Day. All New Yorkers should have the opportunity to vote early 鈥� it鈥檚 state law, not just a right for those with means. If the Rensselaer County Board of Elections opened an early voting site in our community, my ability to exercise my right to vote would be substantially less burdened than it is now,鈥� said Rensselaer County resident Danielle Colin Charlestin.

鈥淭roy NAACP members want to vote early in-person, but we have been deterred from doing so, or unable to do so, because there is no early voting site that is reasonably accessible for our members or the communities we serve. To deny Troy鈥檚 communities of color adequate and equitable access to an early voting location is nothing short of voter suppression,鈥� said Ren茅ePowell, president of the Troy NAACP.

The BOE is contesting the Attorney General鈥檚 authority to bring suits to protect New Yorkers鈥� voting rights from violations of the Election Law, such as the BOE鈥檚 failure to provide adequate and equitable access to early voting sites. Instead, the BOE argues that the State Board of Elections is the only state agency with the authority to prosecute violations of the Election Law. But the 鈥渂ipartisan鈥� State BOE is designed to protect the interests of the two major political parties and the incumbent officials who run them, not marginalized New Yorkers seeking equitable participation in our democracy.

As the Moreland Commission found, the BOE 鈥渓acks the structural independence, the resources, and the will to enforce election and campaign finance laws,鈥� noting that 鈥淸t]he Board鈥檚 鈥榖ipartisan鈥� structure has effectively led to a tacit, bipartisan agreement to do nothing 鈥� or, as one former enforcement counsel said, to 鈥榙o the basement,鈥欌�� leading to 鈥渁n extreme paucity of actual investigations; and an abject failure to use legal and human resources for enforcement.鈥� The BOE鈥檚 claim that the State Board of Elections should be the State鈥檚 sole voting rights enforcement authority is tantamount to arguing that there should be no voting rights enforcement at all. The NYCLU agrees with the AG that her office has the authority to enforce the voting rights of New Yorkers.

鈥淩ensselaer County BOE commissioners have abdicated their responsibility to ensure that Troy residents can exercise their right to vote for far too long,鈥� said Melanie Trimble, capital region chapter director, New York Civil Liberties Union. 鈥淲hen the Rensselaer County BOE added an early voting location during the 2020 elections, it was in one of the least convenient possible locations for Black, Latinx and low-income voters. This is textbook voter suppression, and it must be stopped. We are proud to stand with the Attorney General to fight for robust and inclusive early access to the polls in Troy, and wherever voting rights are at risk.鈥�

For the NYCLU, staff attorney Amy Belsher is co-counsel for Intervenors, the Troy NAACP and the individual voters. In May, research analyst Jesse Barber provided an affidavit with a detailed analysis of voting and demographic data concerning the early voting sites that the Attorney General submitted with her successful petition.

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