The reason?

Democrats’ refusal to consider voter identification laws as part of their spate of election reforms. The Sunset Bay Republican debated only one of the bills on the floor of the Senate. That legislation, S.557, is sponsored by Sen. Rachel May, D-Syracuse, and amends the state Election Law to allow counties the option to establish two or more locations for portable polling places for early voting. But during that floor debate, Borrello made clear he doesn’t disagree with Democrats’ efforts to increase access to voting. The local senator’s objection is the legislative package’s lack of election security measures.

“I think it’s important to note that we want to make things easier, and I get that, but not at the expense of our election integrity,” Borrello said. “The idea that we could have an ‘election food truck’ show up in the Walmart parking lot for people to vote is a pretty scary proposition when you’re not going to be required to present an ID. That’s really the crux of the situation here. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle are opposed to the simple idea of showing an ID to vote. The excuse I’ve heard is we’re going to exclude certain people by doing that.

There was a recently published study, and I don’t like to reference studies often, in November 2021 in the Quarterly Journal of Economics that said showing an ID has no impact, does not suppress anyone from voting. Also my colleagues on the other side of the aisle love to compare us to Europe. Well, all of the European nations with the exception of parts of the United Kingdom, have voter ID laws. So if we’re going to make it easier to vote, why would we not ask for the simple action of showing an ID?”

Submitted photo State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, debate a piece of voting legislation with state Sen. Rachel May, D-Syracuse, earlier this week.

Borrello asked several questions of May during the debate, all aimed at the lack of state-backed standards in the legislation to guarantee votes are only cast by those eligible to vote. May countered that the legislation, if passed by the Assembly and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, gives local Board of Elections to offer portable polling places.

“I remind you that the way this works is this creates an option for counties to create these portable polling places,” she said. “That means the Democrat and the Republican election commissioners have to agree to do it This isn’t just some rogue thing that happens in the middle of the night. They’re going to have to set the times and the locations, I believe 14 days in advance, in order to make sure the public knows to show up at these locations.”

Borrello drew May’s ire during his comments on the bill by comparing the right to vote with the right to bear arms.

“If it’s a question of constititionality, well we certainly have a constitutional right to bear arms and we should still show an ID to purchase a gun,” Borrello said. So I don’t understand how those two things don’t go together.”

May countered during her comments in explanation of her vote that, in her opinion, the two rights shouldn’t be compared.

“I want to say in general about this package of bills that it comes at a time when there is a concerted effort in this country to make voters distrust elections and to distrust the results of elections, to discourage people from voting and to make it harder to register to vote,” May said. “I’m disturbed that in this debate we heard an equivalence drawn between casting a ballot and buying a gun. I think we should think about voting as a right and a privilege but also a duty of American citizens and that comparison really disturbs me. I want to say I’m very proud to be part of this Senate majority that is working to not just make it easier to vote and easier to register to bring voting to the people but also to help voters understand that their votes will be counted, that when they show up at a polling place or when then submit a ballot they can have a much higher degree of confidence that ballot will count in the election. That is something we need to reassure people about because this campaign to make people afraid of our elections, to make people afraid of voters and of voting election results is deeply damaging to our democracy.”

Also passed, largely along party lines, were the following bills. voted in favor of S1126

¯ COVID Absentee Voting For School District Elections: S.7619, sponsored by Senator Shelley Mayer, allows voters who are concerned about voting in-person due to an epidemic or disease outbreak to request an absentee ballot for school district elections in 2022.

¯ COVID Absentee Voting for General Elections: S.7565B, sponsored by Senator Alessandra Biaggi, extends legislation allowing COVID as an excuse for absentee voting for elections.

¯ Voter Registration at Second Residence: S.6214, sponsored by Senator Zellnor Myrie, codifies the right of voters to register at a second residence.

¯ Democracy Preservation Act: S.1126A, sponsored by Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris, prohibits corporate contributions from companies owned by foreign entities or owners. Borrello voted in favor of the Gianaris bill.

¯ Polling Place On College Campuses: S.4658, sponsored by Senator Kevin Parker, designates polling places for voting on college campuses under certain circumstances.

¯ Candidate Order on Ballots: S.1283, sponsored by Senator Todd Kaminsky, adjusts the candidate order on ballots to prevent voter dropoff.

¯ Absentee Ballot Drop-off Box Locations: S.492, sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman, allows local Board of Elections to establish absentee ballot drop-off locations to provide voters with a convenient alternative option to submit their absentee ballots.

¯ Validation of Ballots: S.253, sponsored by Myrie, requires the canvassing of paper ballots when the express intentions of the voter are unambiguous.

¯ Counting of Affidavit Ballots: S.284A, sponsored by Myrie, requires counting affidavit ballots of eligible voters if a voter appears at a polling place in the correct county but in the incorrect election district.

¯ Reduction of Time for Mailing and Receipt of Registration to Constitutional Minimum: S.2951, sponsored by Senator Brian Kavanagh, reduces the time to register to vote to the state constitutional minimum, 10 days before an election for primary and general elections.