By Ann Marie Pendergast

Like many last year, I opted to vote via absentee ballot. I ended up dropping it off at one of the early voting sites. The week of the election, I received a “Notice to Cure” in the mail informing me that the signature on the ballot envelope did not appear to match my signature on file. The notice gave me the opportunity to “cure” my ballot by filing the attached “cure affirmation” confirming that the ballot was indeed submitted by me.

I was actually excited to get this notice! This is a new voting provision in New York. In 2020 the League partnered with the Campaign Legal Center and successfully settled a lawsuit that allows voters to cure deficiencies with their absentee ballots. This includes issues with signatures, witness declarations, and sealing of the envelope. The lawsuit also removed rules in place that allowed ballots to be challenged if the voter marked outside the designated areas, used non-black or blue ink, or sealed their envelope with tape.

Notices regarding invalid ballots are sent out on a rolling basis as ballot envelopes are received and reviewed. The new provisions allow seven days to sign and return the affirmation. In previous years, these ballots would have simply been invalidated with no notice nor recourse to voters.

Out of the 24,641 absentee ballots cast in November, 192 voters in Saratoga County received a notice that their ballot was considered invalid, less than 1%. Most of these, 119, were specifically for signature verification. In the end, 17 of these got resolved. I was pleased to see the results of the League’s work firsthand, but more importantly relieved to have the opportunity to “cure” my ballot and have my vote count!