New York
New York
GradeB+
Year2025
TierTop Tier

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Responsive Gov’s Grade TL;DR

The New York State Legislature continued to pass important election law reforms this past year including enacting legislation to require the state to join ERIC, which will help ensure the state’s voter rolls remain current and up-to-date. But, it once again failed to pass legislation to remove barriers to voter registration by implementing a more secure and efficient automatic voter registration system. Therefore, New York received a B+ on this year’s progress report.

Looking Back

Where New York Started at the Beginning of 2025

  • Automatic Voter Registration: Partial AVR
  • Online Voter Registration: DMV ID
  • Same-Day Registration: No
  • Restoration of Rights: Prison Disenfranchisement
  • Vote by Mail: Excuse-Only
  • Electronic Registration Information Center Member: No
  • Early Voting Opportunities: Regular Ballot Early Voting
  • ID Requirements: No Document Required

Relying on the Cost of Voting Index for New York as of 2024, we considered the state a top tier state for pre-existing voting policy and compared its 2025 activity against other top tier states.

How Our Tier Compares

  • COVI (2024): 12th
  • EPI Score (2022): 47th

2025: This Past Year

Legislative Action

The New York State Legislature continued to make pro-voter improvements this past session, but it yet again missed an opportunity to implement an even more effective and secure automatic voter registration system.

  • SB 1356A requires the State Board of Elections to join a “multistate voter list maintenance org,” such as ERIC, and share registration data.
  • SB 752 clarifies that an early mail ballot deposited into a dropbox before the close of polls can be counted.
  • SB 1842 allows pollworkers to work half-day shifts on Election Day.
  • SB 4274C requires the New York City Board of Elections, within 5 days of learning about the need to change a polling location, to notify the chairs of the state party committees by mail about the change.
  • Once again, the Legislature failed to take action on SB 88/AB 6772A, which would have incorporated upgrades to create a safer, more efficient, and more effective Secure AVR system. The legislation passed the Senate, but failed to advance in the Assembly.
  • Implementation Action

  • For another year, New York failed to implement AVR at the DMV, which had an initial deadline of January 2023. Implementation of AVR at the DMV is now delayed until early 2026 as the NY DMV works to address several key administrative issues prior to its launch.