Council hearing highlights gaps in ballot-curing and reporting bills; advocates press state changes

City Council members used the April 16 oversight hearing to drill into two local bills intended to improve transparency and remedies for absentee ballots from people detained at Rikers Island.

Intro 7-86 would require the Department of Correction to work with the Board of Elections to establish procedures for curing ballots for people in correctional custody and to report outcomes related to ballot defects and rejections over a five-year period. Intro 7-97 would require annual DOC reporting on voter registration and voting activity in city jails, disaggregated by facility and demographic information.

Deputy Commissioner Nell Colon told the council DOC shares the goal of supporting voting access and transparency but raised concerns about feasibility. "Under state law, the ballot curing process is administered directly by the Board of Elections, which communicates directly with voters using their contact information provided by the voter," she said, and added that DOC does not currently receive notifications of ballot deficiencies nor have system access that would allow identification of ballots requiring curing.

Michael Ryan of the Board of Elections reiterated that while BOE will collaborate operationally, any expansion of DOC's role in curing or establishing jail-based poll sites likely requires state statutory changes. "Certain proposals, including those related to polling locations, ballot curing process, or absentee voting requirements are limited by New York state law and would require legislative action at the state level," Ryan said on the record.

Advocates urged the council not to stop at local reporting and recommended backing the Democracy During Detention Act (state bill S4482/A?), which would make boards of elections responsible for administering voting programs in local jails, require stronger language access, staffing, data-sharing and planning for in-person voting options. Witnesses said routine, auditable data — who received forms, when DOC delivered materials to BOE, how many cure notices were routed to detained voters and how many were successfully cured — should be published to allow monitoring and accountability.

Council members asked for follow-up data on cure notices and the number of curable defects cured for voters still in DOC custody; BOE said those figures are available in its systems and pledged to provide them. Chairs signaled the council will continue oversight and may coordinate with state lawmakers to align local and state reforms.

Next steps noted on the record included BOE providing detailed cure-data on request and DOC and the council working with the Law Department to assess legal boundaries for implementation of Intro 7-86.