New York State has adopted a new piece of legislation that will expand voter access to young people by authorizing polling places on college campuses with 300 or more students or at a nearby site chosen by the college. This article is published by Bard. Here is an excerpt:

As a part of the new budget, the New York State Legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul have passed legislation to mandate polling places on college campuses with 300 or more registered students or at a nearby site proposed by the college. The legislation will also prevent the division of college campuses into multiple voting districts.

“The legislation is critical, because it will stop practices designed to suppress student voting, including situating polling in locations that are difficult to access and dividing campuses into multiple districts,” said Jonathan Becker, Executive Vice President of Bard College and Director Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement. “It means that New York college students can now focus more on whom they should vote for rather than whether they can vote. We hope it will set a precedent for other states to follow.”

The legislation, based on New York Bill A454/S4658, was supported by the coalition Let New York Vote, uniting groups like GenVote, NYPIRG, Citizens Union, and Common Cause, as well as representatives from The Andrew Goodman Foundation and Bard College; the latter two have  worked together on voting rights at Bard for a decade. Today’s statewide legislative victory is a direct result of 2020 and 2021 lawsuits filed by The Andrew Goodman Foundation and Bard College  to bring a polling place to campus. The experience of generations of Bard students, many of whom have served as Andrew Goodman Ambassadors, in battling voter suppression efforts by the Dutchess County Board of Elections was central to the arguments for the need for a statewide legislative fix. 

Read the full story here.