NYC NOW - May 26, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: May 26, 2023

Despite Mayor Adams' concerns over housing incoming migrants, over 1100 shelter beds remain vacant this week. Plus, Mayor Adams has made it illegal to discriminate based on weight in employment, housing, and public accommodations. And finally, a recent change in state election law allows for new voters in New York to register and cast their ballot on the same day. Voting rights advocates call it the “Golden Day” but are also concerned about whether local elections officials will be prepared to handle it. WNYC’s Michael Hill talks with senior politics reporter Brigid Bergin about the upcoming Golden Day on June 17 and what to expect from it.

Welcome to NYC Now, your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Friday, May 26. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. More than 1,100 shelter beds are sitting empty this week, even as Mayor Eric Adams expresses increasing alarm over waiter-house migrants still coming to New York. The Coalition for the Homeless parsed the data from city shelters and provided it to WNYC. Hundreds of family units run by the Department of Homeless Services also went unused. The group says, meanwhile, city officials have been housing migrants in temporary respite shelters, some without showers. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services says it keeps beds vacant in case of other emergencies.

Wade is now a protected class in New York City. Mayor Eric Adams signed a law that makes it illegal to treat someone differently based on their weight when it comes to employment, housing, and public accommodations. law affords the same protections as it does for age, race, religion, and sexual orientation. The official prohibition on weight discrimination will go into effect in about six months. 69 with sunshine out there right now, sunny in 74 for high today this weekend, sunny, high in the mid to upper 70s on Saturday and Sunday, Memorial Day, partly sunny in 81. A recent change in state election law is creating an opportunity for new voters. in New York to register and cast their ballot on the same day. Voting rights advocates are calling it

the Golden Day, but they're concerned about whether local elections officials will be prepared to handle it. The first so-called Golden Day falls on June 17th. That's next month before the upcoming June 27th primary. Join me now with the Tales is WNYC's senior politics reporter, Bridget Bergen. Bridget, good morning. Good morning, Michael. Golden Day has such a nice ring to it. Would you explain What exactly is it? Yeah, absolutely. It does have a nice ring to it. I'll start with a little background.

Last year, the legislature changed the deadline for people to register to vote to 10 days before an election. It used to be 25 days. So what would often happen is just as people were starting to pay attention, they'd discover they weren't registered to vote and they'd missed the deadline to register. The state constitution at that point actually said the deadline could be closer to the election. so last year lawmakers made that change, pushing the deadline closer to the election itself. Now you combine that with early voting, which runs for nine days with one day off before an election, and, to-da, you have these overlapping deadlines that create a golden day. Are elections officials indeed ready for this, though?

It sounds like a big change. It is, and I will say that at least here in New York City, they are ready. I spoke with New York City Board of Elections Deputy Director Vincent Ignizio, who laid it out for me, although I should note, he does not use the Golden Day nomenclature. There is, in fact, a day in which you can fill out your form and bring it to a board office and then vote the same day and or go to the poll site and fill out an affidavit ballot and actually vote on the same day. Now, just to be totally clear, there are only certain people eligible for Golden Day, Michael. You must be a new voter, so maybe you just turned 18 and you hadn't registered yet, or maybe you just moved to New York State at least a month ago, and you didn't have a chance to update your registration.

If you want to vote in the June primary, you also have to register in a party that is holding a primary. And so if you're already registered and you just want to change your party affiliation, that deadline has passed. That was February 14th. This golden day is only for new voters. Always, always some fine print there to pay attention to. This sounds as if it would be good for voters and people. Why do voting rights advocates have concerns about this, though? Well, they want to make sure the rules are clear. They want the state legislature to put into the law how new voters should be handled on Golden Day. Susan Lerner of Common Cause New York says it's about ensuring there is clarity across the state. We have 58 different boards of elections and each county or city board might decide to

interpret their responsibilities under the law one way and then their neighboring county might interpret it another way. So to prevent that, she wants the state legislature to pass a law that would create uniform guidance across the state. Bridget, has there been any additional guidance from the state legislature, even the state board of elections for those local elections officials? So no guidance from the state board of elections yet, but there is a bill working its way through the state legislature that could address these problems. It's sponsored by Brooklyn Assembly member Robert Carroll and State Senator Brian Kavanaugh,

Manhattan. I spoke to Carol who said this bill would. make it part of election lot that people could register and vote on this golden day. Under this bill, eligible individuals can appear at their polling site. You know, the person must be offered the opportunity to complete a registration affidavit and then cast that ballot and not have to take any additional steps or appear at the Board of Elections and then go and vote. Now, this bill passed out of the Assembly Elections Committee just yesterday. So we'll have to see what happens next week. The legislature is running, the clock is ticking on the legislature's session,

but the state board also said they were working on some guidance that they might send out, but that is also still in the works. That's WNYC's senior politics reporter, Bridget Bergen. Early voting runs from June 17th through June 25th before the June 27th primary. Bridget, thank you. Thanks, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day, for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More this evening.